What would you do if an EMP went off?

[Soubriquet]

How would it affect your life?
How would it affect your job?

My job would be obsolete.

Online shopper. No internet means no customers can place their orders.

No internet means the shop can’t see if it’s in stock or now.

No internet, no productions, and no working factories would mean a lot of our food would have to come from smaller shops.

No car would mean I would struggle to get to the supermarket even if they managed to get some form of system going

Home life for me would be dull. No Tv, no WiFi etc. I would be bored.

camp stoves for cooking but gas wouldnt last too long and I imagine would fly off the shelves quickly!

This is a fair point, given the reactions to shortages of fuel/loo roll the last couple of years we know how people would react if they suddenly had to rely on gas/wood for heating, cooking etc.

Yeah no Netflix or fridges, but no emails! A world without emails! Heaven!

Playing board games, card games, reading, probably reading to my partner to spend time together instead of watching TV, I could craft but I'd quickly run out of materials and have no job, god knows how I'd grow food in a second floor flat 🙈🙈 everyone would have to instantly rip up all their gardens for food production at a bare minimum

Thank you @Soubriquet

I watched the tv series Revolution. It got violent very quickly.

I’m Disabled so guess I would die in few days. Can’t be leaving flat no lift, can’t charge power chair. We need electric get water pump to work. Can’t fight over food. Well that’s something nice to look forward to!

Well the lack of running water will pretty much wipe out everyone in a city within a few weeks so I can't say I'd care about my job!

In the UK, martial/emergency law, curfews, government food distribution, mass grow your own like WW2 , uk currently c60% self sufficient with lots of set aside though fossil-fuel fertilisers taking more than 1cal of fossil fuel to grow 1cal of food will make livestock a premium. Some population loss but government control through military, police and civil mechanisms probably would be harshly established in the UK. I suspect the government, military, police and social, church and charitable structures in the US might not succeed with their stronger individualist and less communal attitudes and more widespread firearms. Happy to be wrong.

I do occasionally think about this. Interesting thought experiment because yes would be chaos. My DD works in cyber-security and she is as low tech as possible outside her job for that reason.

I work on a school office and we are stuck in the 1950s anyway. I just couldnt take phone calls.

Why would an EMP go off?

I'd like to think that it wouldn't necessarily be just chaos everywhere with instant survival of the fittest.

Covid made me feel a bit more hopeful about community responses to crises, it felt like people round here really came together locally to try and help each other.

But then I guess we're talking wildly different scenarios of course!

@sadpapercourtesan

Why would an EMP go off?

Cos I’m a sick and twisted individual and like to think of apocalyptic and dystopian situations

So do I, I was just intrigued as to how likely this one was! Am now googling

We'd be OK initially, we're both bushcraft nerds and can light fires, construct shelters, purify water etc. DH would be in his element. Longer term, I think things would become very authoritarian, regimented and scary as the government struggled to control an angry population.

I actually don't know what we would do. We live abroad and are really reliant on electronics. We wouldn't be able to contact anyone that we know. I suppose we'd have to collaborate with neighbours, which would be tricky with the language barrier. I can speak local language but not fluently, and only a generic version. Many of the neighbours are older and speak strong local dialect.

@WhatATimeToBeAlive

Sounds like it would be like living back in the 1980s. We'd cope!

Only without electricity of any kind so no lights etc 😄

When I read this thread, the panicker in me immediately considered getting a camping stove and stockpiling tins of food and candles.
Then the rest of me thought fuck it, CBA!

Firstly I’d laugh my arse off at all the idiots who’ve ripped up their gardens and put plastic grass down

Lolz at people saying they’d be bored. You wouldn’t have any time to be bored, that food ain’t gonna grow itself, the wood needs chopping, you’d be walking miles every day to trade and barter food & tools. Boredom would be a luxury

I own lots of books. And a vibrator. I'm good for about 6 months.

I'd drop everything and want to see if the EMP was caused by a nuclear detonation first of all. No mushroom cloud = oh, well, best get busy going back to the 19th century. Mushroom cloud = oh, fuck.

@Mamamamasaurus

I own lots of books. And a vibrator. I'm good for about 6 months.

Stockpile those batteries!

@Mamamamasaurus

I own lots of books. And a vibrator. I'm good for about 6 months.

As an electrical item your vibrator would fall victim to the EMP I'm afraid.

Interesting question OP. I'd be ok for a few days here. I have an open fire to cook things on and lots of food in the cupboards. Over a longer period I'd be screwed though, since I have no bushcraft skills to speak of.

I think a lot depends on people's problem solving skills and outdoor experience. I've spent quite a bit of time working on sites with no power, and I feel confident that I could sort heat, refrigeration, fresh water and something to cook on.

In winter, I’d probably freeze as I have no means of heating the house, other than electricity. Summer might be a bit better, but I’m guessing food supplies would run out pretty quickly.

My old house would have been better as we had a cellar with food stocks and a wood burning stove with a top that lifted off to reveal a cooking plate. It was also about ten degrees warmer there too.

I would cry and cry and cry