Survival skills
Survival skills are practical abilities and knowledge for staying alive and meeting basic needs during emergencies or in dangerous environments.
Survival priorities: A hierarchy of urgent needs used to guide actions in life-threatening situations. Prioritizing immediate threats helps allocate limited time and energy.
Shelter building: Constructing or adapting a place that protects people from weather, terrain, and other hazards. Shelter reduces exposure to wind, rain, cold, and heat.
Wilderness survival: Staying alive and meeting basic needs in remote natural environments with limited outside support. It applies general survival skills where rescue and supplies may be far away.
Bushcraft: Traditional skills for living and working in outdoor environments using available natural materials. Bushcraft overlaps with survival skills but often emphasizes sustained outdoor competence.
Situational awareness: The practice of noticing environmental cues, understanding their significance, and anticipating how conditions may change. Accurate observations reveal hazards, resources, and changing risks.
Firemaking: Producing and maintaining fire for warmth, signaling, cooking, or water treatment. Fire can provide heat, visibility, and support for other survival tasks.
Urban survival: Maintaining safety and basic needs during emergencies in cities and built environments. Infrastructure failures create hazards distinct from those in remote terrain.
Disaster preparedness: Plans, supplies, and actions intended to reduce harm from anticipated emergencies and disasters. Preparedness focuses on planning ahead, while survival skills emphasize practical response.
Risk assessment: The process of identifying hazards and estimating their likelihood and potential consequences. Survival choices depend on comparing likely harms with available options.
Water purification: Removing or inactivating contaminants in water to make it safer to drink. Unsafe water can cause illness; treatment lowers that risk.