Two Spanish preppers tell us how they lived yesterday’s great blackout

Five seconds. It is what was needed to 60% of Spain’s energy vanished This April 28. At 12:33 in the morning 15 GW of generation were lost in the system, causing a total blackout that caught many without the necessary elements To face an absolute disconnection situation in which the radio was the only window to the information. But there are those who did not spend the dark night or eating food remains of the refrigerator.

They are people who have gone preparing for this type of situation And they tell us how they lived it, their tricks and that everything were jokes in their surroundings until they had to ask for a flashlight to spend the night.

“What happened yesterday cannot happen again. And he can never happen again,” I commented Pedro Sánchez, president of Spain, at the press conference on April 29. Little by little it comes to light Information about the blackout that left us from those 12:33 on Monday, without electricity on the peninsula and without mobile data to communicate.

To the afternoon lake, the system, Thanks to emergency servicesbegan to relive little by little, but this is something that forces us to review something as fundamental as, it can be, undervalued: The weak points of the Spanish Electric Red. Now, not only authorities must act: citizens also have something to say thanks to preparation.

But, of course, The idea of ​​giving supplies And to prepare a survival kit does not appear in our mind from one day to another without something that triggers that idea. Miguel Morales is one of those people who have a series of elements at home so it can happen. “He gave me by because, after Covid, it became clear that the difference between a critical situation and a house holiday was just how you were prepared,” he tells us.

Isra Fernándezpartner of Applesferais another one of those preparations for whatever comes. In his case, that spark to start creating his kit was very previous. “I’ve always been a bit ‘tarado’ with this ‘, but maybe … the 11S. He caught me out of the institute and touched my head. Then, my friends and I were always with” And if one day something happened like in ’28 days later’? ” As clarification, ‘28 days later‘It’s a zombie apocalypse movie.

But although he September 11, 2001 I could turn on that spark, as in the case of Miguel, the Covid was the climax. “We supplied and could help neighbors and friends,” Isra tells us.

During that period, “there were people who had a really bad and others who until well” thanks to those supplies they had at home, Complete Miguel. But … what supplies? In the case of a pandemic, non -perishable foods, many in can to make homemade hornos, are “The most useful thing you can have”he tells us. And, before a blackout like yesterday, the trick was to pull batteries.

“I have two batteries and both were used yesterday. Isra comments that it has 50 AA and 50 AAA batteries, and both mention the radio. Whether batteries or crank, became something essential. “Although at the beginning it was limited to reading Red Eléctrica tweets, when the coverage fell were quite key to remain informed,” says Miguel.

Isra points out that, where appropriate, it is not batteries, but of crank. Thus it does not depend on batteries and its model (this) It is loaded by kinetic energy, solar or by power to feed a 10,000 mAh battery that, in addition to the point of light, serves as a charger. It also has AM/FM radio and compass.

Within that preparation, a very important point is food. Again: not so much for events that last a few hours, such as the blackout, but for others that can be expanded months or even weeks.

Isra details an absolute arsenal of food, composed of four drums of water, honeyboats, peanut cream and 10 kg of powdered milk, as well as 20 legumes and fruit cans in syrup, stating that “the ideal would be to have about 100, mainly peas, chickpeas and food with vegetable protein.”

The Gas Camping is also a good idea because there are very compact equipment that allows you to heat food in this type of situations, but they are also interesting to use from time to time for certain dishes if in your kitchen you have hobbles or induction. And Miguel tells us that he spent the day with three types of food: meals prepared in can, instant noodles and fruit.

Now, How do you collect that amount of cans? “During the last six months, in each purchase I have included long -lasting products. So I have not had to make a fat purchase and I have distributed the expense,” says Miguel.

Of course, not everything is to have the material and there are a series of tricks to spend the day as well as possible in these situations. Sunflower oil, for example, does not work only for cooking, but to use fuel in the gas campsite if a blackout is dilated too much and you run out of gas. Canned cans not only serve to save foodbut to make homemade hornillos.

On the flashlights, Miguel states that beyond those of focus, those that have a wide beam are more helpful to create atmosphere in a room than those that have the directed beam and there is another factor: the blackout may be or what makes us dust off the emergency kit does not catch us at home and there is something that is very useful: Google Maps.

How am I going to use Google Maps if there is no data? Simple: downloading the maps. “Having a complete map of Madrid downloaded, helped a lot of people to return home,” says Miguel. It is very simple to do, you can also in apps like Apple Maps And it does not occupy too much space on the mobile.

I have to admit that I know people who have similar kits to those detailing Miguel and Isra and, in confidence and in a jocular tone, before the Covid I released comments of “If something happens, I go to your bunker”. I have not been the only one who said something like that. “With that money you could go on vacation” It is a comment that Isra has received on occasion. It is something that has also happened in the case of Miguel, but when the thing squeezes, the perception changes.

“During the day, most took it to a joke, but at night it was another story: there I had to dedicate to distribute flashlights.” Yesterday I felt superreivindicated, “Miguel tells us in another sample that, in situations like this, something that comes out is the civility of the population, helping each other when the situation is badly given.

And also party desire emergeclear.

Main image | Miguel Morales

In Xataka | What is the “energy zero” and why the supply can go suddenly but it takes hours to recover