Title: How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse According to An Emergency Management Professor

Zombies may be fictional monsters best portrayed by Hollywood and avid trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

But how would we actually fare against a horde of the undead?

Probably not well, according to Tim Frazier, professor and faculty director of the School of Continuing Studies’ Emergency and Disaster Management program. It would only be a matter of days before zombies would overwhelm human society, said Frazier, who is an expert on coastal hazards and researches methods to help communities build resilience to natural hazards and climate change.

In the spirit of Halloween, we asked Frazier how he would apply best practices from the field in a zombie apocalypse – and where he would most like to hunker down.

Here’s his survival guide to outlast the walking dead.

Ask a Professor: Tim Frazier on Disaster Management, Zombies and Survival Tips

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

In emergency situations, how should people generally respond?

One of the things we say in the field is that the first responder is not the first responder. In reality, the first responder is the first person to respond to the crisis event, which typically is the population in the area. What we tell people is you need to be your own first responder, so you need to be prepared at home to manage until help arrives. 

The second thing we say is listen to the people in charge. In the ‘50s, ’60s and into the ‘80s, when the emergency manager or the police or fire department told you to do something, you did it. Today, the difference in our society is that everybody is their own emergency manager. Something happens, and they want to explore.

The reality is they’re pulling in information from multiple sources. They go to the web, they Google, they look at their phone for Instagram or whatever and make their own emergency management decision. Sometimes, that decision is good, sometimes it’s bad. It doesn’t always align with what a local official is telling you to do.

What mistakes do civilians often make in emergencies?

You might have a basic instinct that puts you at risk, and you should avoid those circumstances. If you can’t swim, don’t jump in the water to try to save someone. Understand the situation and your opportunity or ability to contribute to a positive response, and understand the limitations for you to make the response even worse by contributing in ways that aren’t good.

How do emergency managers determine how many resources should be devoted to a crisis?

We call [emergencies] a risk or hazard, and then it becomes a disaster. One of the key definitions we use to describe a disaster is when we have an event that overwhelms the ability of the local community to effectively respond to that event. We keep bringing in those response resources from our friends in the field until we get to the point where we can adequately handle the crisis event.

When [everyone] is overwhelmed, you’re just overwhelmed, and you have to deal with it yourself. The only way to deal with being under-resourced and overwhelmed is to take away from someone else who needs those resources as well. You’re competing for resources everybody needs. 

How long would it take for a zombie outbreak to become a disaster?

Days, not weeks. There will be a point in a zombie apocalypse where if it’s cascading outward and we’re becoming overwhelmed, people will realize, “I’m on my own.” You can predict the spread and impact based on global connectivity and networks and flows of goods and services, including people.

How would a response to a zombie apocalypse differ from other crises?

Our golden rule in emergency management is to save lives first. What are the measures necessary to save lives, and how does that change from one hazard stressor to another? For a zombie situation, the stressor would be, “I have to put down the zombie because I’m saving lives by putting the zombie down.” You’re preventing them from joining the other team by saving lives.

There’s also a lot of basic principles. You want to quarantine the area as best you can. You want to isolate the challenge and the problem. You want to bring an efficient and effective level of resources to bear to minimize the negative impacts of those problems. Once you get those negative and immediate life-threatening impacts minimized, then you move into recovery mode.

What are the essential supplies you’d need in a zombie apocalypse?

Normally, you go for water first because you can survive three to five days on water alone. Then, obviously food. Then you think about medical supplies and other things like how to generate electricity or batteries to know what’s going on. You go from the basic needs to the luxury needs or items that might help you survive longer-term.

You need to get the thing that saves your life first and foremost. In a zombie situation, I think the first thing you go for is some sort of weapon to protect yourself. You’re not surviving against the elements, you’re surviving against an aggressor. Once I stop the attacker, then I look around and say, “What resources do I have or need to sustain myself until the cavalry comes over the hill?”

Would you rather be stationary or on the move?

There are multiple challenges with being on the move. Part of the calculus is I don’t know the area very well. I don’t know what’s going on. When you’re in an area you’re not normally in and familiar with, you lack information, which can be incredibly damaging from your survival perspective.

The other thing about being on the move is that your exposure is increased. You don’t have a safe place to hunker down or hide. You don’t have the bunker that you close the door to so no one else is going in. You don’t necessarily have the defensive posture position like the castle with a moat.

The last thing I would say is you’re limited in the amount of resources you can have at your disposal because you can’t carry a lot of resources when you’re walking, even in a car.

Is it better to be in a rural or urban environment in the case of zombies?

I think the most effective argument is a rural area. There’s less potential for aggressors. If you’re someone who lives in a rural area in our country, there’s a likelihood you have some sort of weapon.

I’m overgeneralizing, but a lot of people who live in rural environments have this understanding that they have to take care of themselves on a daily basis. If hell comes, it’s got to be really bad for people. If you’re in the mountains of Montana and there’s a blizzard, nobody’s coming, right? You’re on your own until the situation gets to the point where somebody has the opportunity to come.

You’re much better off than if you live in a one-bedroom apartment in the middle of New York City where everybody is turning into zombies. Give me the country.

Urban areas can be better from a response perspective because they’re getting their resources faster. But if you can survive without that resource, then [the city] could be much worse as you’re competing for other survival resources.

What part of the U.S. would you want to be in during a zombie apocalypse?

Intermountain Northwest. Idaho, Montana, one of those places with far less population density and a vast amount of natural resources, from water in the stream you could purify and drink to game you can hunt or fish for. There’s also a lack of proximity to urban areas.

I said Intermountain Northwest because that’s more realistic. But if you could get to an island that has an abundant supply of water and potentially food, that’s where you want to be.

Smaller islands with some resources that are uninhabited or have low populations. Fiji’s beautiful. There are Pacific islands that look like that and don’t have any zombies on them. I’ll say this tongue in cheek, hope for a zombie apocalypse, get to an island somewhere in the Fiji chain, retire early, sit back and enjoy the rest of your life while the world [ends.]

In a rural area, would you rather be by yourself or part of a community protecting each other?

If you have a group you trust relatively well, there’s a level of ease associated with that, but there’s also a level of angst because you don’t know how that situation is going to unfold when push comes to shove.

You go out to McDonald’s and get a large fries. You’re sharing your fries at the table, and you bought a large fries on purpose. It’s McDonald’s, everybody’s going to take a few fries, so just get a large. Don’t get a medium.

I personally prefer to be on my own. I know I’m competent and capable of handling that situation myself, and my level of trust for people trying to steal my fries [is low.]

I’m never the person who goes to McDonald’s and orders a medium and then whines and cries when people take my fries. That’s not the mentality we have in the field of emergency management. We obtain more resources than we need because we know there’s going to be someone who’s going to need or take some of our resources.