SHTF-what exactly does it mean?

If you keep hearing about SHTF these days and wonder what it means, it refers to an event important to throw the country into turmoil. SHTF actually stands for "Shit Hits The Fan" and could be an economic collapse or a terror attack that leads to chaos and civil unrest. Although it is becoming popular for some people to speculate about the year 2012 signify the "end of the Mayan calendar" and then at the end of the world, few people really think at the end of the world when it comes to SHTF. Here are some scenarios that "Preppers" (those that the stock of food and other supplies to be prepared for a disaster-natural or artificial) and "Survivalists" (more "hardcore" focused on defending Preppers) are thinking of when you use the term SHTF:

EMP-this stands for electromagnetic pulse and is the result of a nuclear warhead is detonated many miles above the Earth. The purpose of such a nuclear attack is not to kill people through blast or radiation, as the burst is over 100 miles up, but rather to take advantage of the extreme burst of electromagnetic energy that is created by a nuclear explosion. High-altitude electromagnetic energy of a nuclear explosion would be ' ride ' along the lines of the magnetic field of the Earth and destroy powerlines and most of electronic circuits from horizon to horizon. This is a bloodless way to an enemy to plunge America into obscurity, and would be decades to rebuild all the electrical infrastructure. Think about not having electricity for years. All the cell phones would be useless and would ruin the circuit in your vehicle. This is almost a doomsday scenario, as the Americans would not have the supply of gas, water or food.

CME-this is a "Coronal Mass ejection," which is an electro-magnetic discharge from natural sunlight. These happen all the time and are generally harmless, but the intensity rises and falls in cycles. In the years 2012 to 2015, the CME activity is going to be particularly intense, and many fear that our electricity grid could be eliminated, as if there was a nuclear EMP attack.

Civil unrest-most every week we see on the news, and riots are nothing new in the world. However, the fear that our social welfare State, with more than 44 million Americans on food stamps, is teetering on the precipice of insolvency. If foreign Governments decide not to continue to finance America's spending with the purchase of our debt, the Treasury will run and the only response will be to print even more. Printing money leads to hyperinflation and very quickly, the value of life of the peoples savings evaporates. When people lose everything and controls the Government buy less food, they take to the streets.

The three scenarios listed above are only the most common events that are designed by people who use the term "SHTF". There are many more, with varying degrees of probability. However, it is certainly one of them, there is always a chance that you can lose power or water or your income or forced to evacuate your home due to a natural disaster. The wisest thing to do is to be ready for whatever happens.

For specific about plans being prepared, you can go to a channel on Youtube Prepper regular guy bolts and http://www.youtube.com/survive2day.

Mike Kuykendall is an expert in emergency preparedness, contingency planning and urban survival affiliated with Survive2Day. His articles are at http://www.Survive2day.com, and is a contributor to the book "when the last Bubble Burst: surviving without the tinfoil hat.

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