You have 10 minutes. An announcement has just been made in whatever building you are in. You have 10 minutes to take whatever you can carry, and vacate the premises. An event has occurred(lets say something close to or equivalent to TEOTWAWKI). What do you bring? What are your next steps? You can only carry things available to you RIGHT NOW. Seeing as this is posted at 1pm EST, many of us are at work. Some drive, some commute by public transit.
What do you do?
Okay. I'll play too. Since an 'announcement was made' I am guessing that at least some people in my area know what is going on. Most of them will be panicking and watching the news and trying to figure out what to do. I used to fix fire alarm systems and every time there was a false alarm you would have a small number of people who immediately vacated but most would wait to see if it was 'real.' I am hoping that this holds true in this case and I will act immediately and gain an advantage before others start to panic.
Since TEOTWAWKI is pretty broad I will tell you what I will do, as I am able. First and foremost, my plans and preps have already been made (physical and mental). At 1pm on a Tuesday I am usually at one of the gyms I work at or between them on the road. Either way, I would grab my backpack and head to my car. My first priority is to get our son, 13 years old. I am the closest to his school. I will text my husband and let him know I am on my way to get the kid. I will also text the kid and direct him to leave the school immediately and head through the woods to our pickup point unless there is snow on the ground and then he will meet me at the alternate pick up point. After the October snow storm I discovered that texting will get through faster than phone calls in these situations. Texting also allows me to send and then do something else (like avoid bad drivers).
If we have reason to believe that it is safe to get home and bug in that is our first option. By the time I get the kid I am close enough to home to know if that is where we will be going to stay for the time being. If not safe to stay there I will still be able to pick up supplies. At this point my husband will be enroute towards us and I will be able to let him know if he should head home or to an alternate location. If he is unable to get to us because of traffic/road/whatever we have an alternate location for him to go to. If it is not safe for my son and I to stay at the house we will head towards one of our alternate locations and communicate that to our husband.
If driving is not an option I am grabbing my bag and hitting the road in the shoe leather. My son also can walk home from school even though it is a few miles. He can get home mostly through the woods assuming not much cnow on the ground.
In my bag and car are enough supplies to get me home and/or get started on getting to an alternative location.
If texting doesn't work, it doesn't much matter as these plans are known by all in our family and the communication is only to confirm we are following plan and to update as possible to changes.
We, my husband and I, also have a plan for what happens if we are in a boat that starts to sink or on a plane that is crashing in to the ocean. If at all possible he will save himself and our son, and I will fend for myself. He is a strong swimmer and I am a weaker swimmer. I would prefer he help our son and let me fend for myself. I am pretty sure I can take care of myself in most situations. As time goes by our son is getting stronger at swimming so we may change this at some point.