Surviving Disaster

I've been studying terrorism and disaster preparedness for 20 years and in my opinion this is one of the most accurate shows on this topic that's ever been on TV. Granted, some of the situations are pretty dire and unlikely, but all the better to illustrate that with a little preparation and if you keep calm, an ordinary crisis situation is very survivable. I also like how it realistically portrays the viciously violent nature of criminals today -- reality is much more shocking than the toned-down fare we normally get in movies and TV. I've only seen the first four episodes thus far, but hopefully later in the season they add a few words about how one can prepare in advance to lessen the impact of emergency situations -- thus far, the presumption is that the victims have to survive with only what's at hand.

I wont lie and say I'm a survival expert, but I have friends in the military who are and they taught me quite a bit about military techniques, including survival. From what I've learned from them, this show is very accurate in it's techniques in teaching how to survive, and taught in a way that the average person would learn.

Cade Courtley, as we all know is a Navy SEAL we saw on the reality series "Combat Missions", does a good job at narrating to us a disaster talking directly to us, and telling us various possibilities, scenarios, and why. What I liked is that the show makes it feel like you're there and teaching you everything on how to handle a situation, all the way down to the worst-case scenario.

Granted, some of these disasters might never happen to us... but, hey, I'm trained in CPR and fight/self-defense, but I've never actually used them... and hopefully never have to, BUT it's good to know how to do these in the event it happens. You might never be in a disaster, BUT it's good to know in the event it happens.

I'm not much of a television viewer (aside from the news) but I loyally watched all the episodes of Surviving disaster. Surviving Disaster is a kickass show. The show deals with modern day, worst case scenario's a person can find himself/herself stuck in, and what you should do to survive. The show is presented in the form of a simulation (plus some interviews with experts and victims on experiences and the why question). Surviving disaster is presented by Navy SEAL Cade Courtley, who is in a crisis situation along with the viewer and gives 'real-time' feedback on what you should do. Likes been said in the other reviews I also found this style of televisionmaking pretty interesting because the host makes you feel the tension of the situation and the urge to react quickly.

The show deals with matters as home invasions (and kidnapping), plane hijacking, fire, mall shootings, hurricanes, earthquakes, pandemics etc. You'll learn the craziest stuff like how to make weapons, how to take down an enemy, how to manipulate basically anything in your environment to your advantage, and the show even teaches you how to safely take down a plane !

I have never seen a program that deals with these topics in such a fascinating way. If you don't want to watch the show for learning ways to increase your survival wits, it's entertaining enough just to see it for the crazy scenario's. The old episodes can still be watched for free on the website of Spike TV. Top notch show. 10/10