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According to a report in the latest issue of New Scientist, solar storm will be one of the most dangerous threats to our civilization.

Solar storms are usually no cause for concern.

Bursts of electrically charged subatomic particles from the sun hit the Earth now and then.

Amazing lights can sometimes be seen in the sky as the electrically charged particles sweep into the Earth’s magnetic field.

And occasionally the sun is convulsed by a gigantic tempest and ejects 50,000-mile-wide boiling hydrogen plasma gas into space at a million miles an hour.

These can at time hit the Earth head-on. And that’s the problem!



On September 1, 1859, one of Britain’s top astronomers, Richard Carrington, saw a bright flash of light erupted from the sun’s surface and detached itself from it.

It was a cloud of charged plasma on its way to Earth. 2 days later brilliant aurorae lit the Earth’s night skies right down to the Tropics.

Telegraph operators received severe electric shocks as solar-induced currents surged through the networks.

The Earth appeared to be immersed in a bath of electricity.

The damage was easy to fix as the world was not dependant on electricity.

But today should such an event occur, our massive network of electric power and communications would be devastated.

Daniel Baker, a space weather expert at the University of Colorado, prepared a report for the U.S. National Academy of Sciences last month, and concluded that our human technology has become more vulnerable. A huge solar storm would cause massive power surges, amounting to billions of unwanted watts surging through the grids.

This would paralyze the world. With no electricity, we would not be able to operate anything.

All our water and sewage plants run on electricity. It means, no water, no heat and no light for the population.

Telecommunication and internet would grind to a halt. There would be no telephones, no medicines, no manufacturing, no farming – and no food.

A solar superstorm would probably destroy the network of GPS satellites upon which every airline depends.

By the time the power grid is rebuilt and new satellites launched, the world would be teetering on the brink of collapse.

Why are we expecting a solar superstorm in 2012?

The Sun’s activity waxes and wanes in 11-year cycles.

Based on that a peak of activity is predicted for 2012.

Even if it does not occur in 2012 the superstorm will eventually hit us like it did in 1859.

Presently our electrical infrastructure is very vulnerable and like a card pyramid it will crash down at the next solar superstorm causing harvoc to the modern civilisation.

We might then have a taste of cavemen’s life if we are still alive.

Is there anything we could do to prepare ourselves for the solar superstorm?

Preparation for the solar superstorm

There is nothing we can do on long term basis but we can extend our chance of survival by preparing for it in small ways if we are not dead by then.

We hope it does not happen like in the movie 2012 and it will be much much milder.

Let’s consider simple little things we can do to alleviate any hardships we might be going through.

Since most of the power gridlock would be down for a while we would need to depend as much as possible on things which do not use electricity.

For light we can use candles or better dynamo LED lamps or flashlights which consume very little power. They just need to be cranked time to time. Batteries can last for a while but they will eventually be depleted unless you use rechargeable batteries, which can be recharged using solar panels.

Often a radio is included with the lamp and it can be used to recharge a cellphone. Some are solar powered.

The price ranges from $6 to over a hundred dollars. This will definitely be very handy at night.

A small gas stove will enable us to prepare our food.

Of course we would buy a few bottles of gas just before the storm happens.

If nothing happens, we could still use them for our barbecue grill.

For long term we might need a solar stove. It cooks food using the sun heat.

For water supply we might be able to get a few liters of bottle water but eventually we would need to have a source as the supermarkets would probably be closed.

Basically we would need a water treatment equipment so that we can consume the untreated water we might collect in rivers or elsewhere.

There are different types. Our suggestion would be to choose one which would not require electricity to function.

If the solar storm is mild, we do not expect any damage to the home or property. If not, we might have to look for shelter somewhere else.

Assuming our home is undamaged physically we would benefit greatly if we have a few solar panels to generate some electricity to provide power to a small fridge, which would help to preserve the food.

Most of the time if the power failure lasts over 3 -5 days the food in the fridge would spoil and have to be dumped.

It is therefore important to have a solar power generator.

The problem with gasoline power generator is that once you run out of gasoline it becomes useless.

We would have to assume that gasoline supply would be halted if there is no electrical power to make the pump work.

Depending on the size and the power we need we may have to spend between $150 to over $1,000.

With the power inverter we can use our computer and check if the internet is completely down or not.

There won’t be much to do anyway. Most of the servers would be down.

For transportation a bicycle would be adequate. There are also electrical bicycles which we can recharge with the solar panels and which will allow us to go a longer distance.

The emergency crews would be hard at work to fix the power outage and the main infrastructures like water and gas supply.

A lot of institutions, like hospitals and police would have their own generators to function to a certain degree.

It will take a while before help drips to the general population.

If we have prepared ourselves as suggested we will find it easier to go through the chaotic world resulting from the effect of the solar superstorm and improve our chance of survival.