Impoverished people can teach you a lot about disaster survival. With so few resources and little to no money available, enterprising human beings in poor countries around the world make great teachers of disaster preparedness. They don’t always have the option to purchase supplies from the best emergency food companies, so they have learned to be resourceful and self reliant.  The following lessons come from communities in South America, Africa and Asia with limited food, water and resources but a wealth of ingenious survival skills.

Pay Attention and Keep Your Eyes Open

When you have very little, and no money to purchase what you need, you have to be on high alert for opportunities all the time. For you and I daily survival is just about guaranteed. But in global communities where water, food, shelter, medicine and a living wage are scarce, it pays to keep your eyes open. A fallen tree can produce firewood, a makeshift table, a hiking stick and a self-defense weapon if your eyes are open to the possibilities

Improvise and Make Do with What You Have

The survival lesson above naturally leads to this one. When you don’t have much, as is the case in most Third World countries, you become very resourceful. You learn that an old bicycle tire makes a great basketball hoop. The inner tube from that tire can be used to patch holes, fashion a makeshift sling for your arm, or make a slingshot for fun and hunting. Disaster survival is all about making do with what you have, which is what Third World citizens do on a daily basis.

Communicate

With a lot of free time on their hands and not many possessions, poor and impoverished people talk a lot. They stay informed about the latest happenings in their community. This is an essential disaster survival skill. You must communicate frequently and effectively. This allows you to gather important information about a host of survival topics, and also keep everyone in your party informed as well.

Go Solar

There are a number of ways you can build a solar powered generator. And if you look on roofs in many impoverished areas around the world, you will see makeshift solar powered water heaters. Energy from the sun is powerful and free, available on a daily basis all over the globe. Build a solar power collector, and if you have the financial capability, solar power collectors and generators from simple to complex are available online for a number of uses.

Minimize Waste

When being poor is the norm, people appreciate the few possessions they have. They simply do not know when they will be able to purchase or obtain replacement items. That means you see sports balls with duct tape on them, and children playing baseball with balls that are nothing more than roles of tape and plastic. Vehicle tires are used until they have absolutely no tread, and sifting through garbage cans is a daily occurrence.

Teamwork Reigns Supreme

In the poorest countries, every family member has certain responsibilities. Even young children cook, beg on the streets for money and scavenge for food. This is because dirt poor families understand they have a much better chance of survival as individuals, if they work together as a team. The same holds true for any long-term disaster situation you find yourself in, because there are strength in numbers when everyone is working toward the same goal.