Forty useful answers for emergency situations

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook; Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht; Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1999; 176 pp

JAKARTA (JP): How do you escape from a bear or a mountain lion, wrestle free from an alligator or deal with a charging bull?

The answer to all these questions and more can be found in a little yellow booklet called The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, published by Chronicle Books in San Francisco. The book was written by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht, with the help of professionally trained experts in each of the situations at hand -- stuntmen, doctors, bomb squad officers, bullfighters, survival experts, demolition derby drivers and others. The book is available in some of the better bookstores in Jakarta, such as QB World Books.

True, in a city like Jakarta there hardly seems to be a need to know how to deal with such emergencies. However, not all of the information which the book provides is of as little consequence to big city life. Indeed, some of it can save your life.

Such as how to identify a bomb, or treat knife and bullet wounds, or take a punch, or even how to ram a car -- which is useful, say, when you have millions of rupiah with you in your car and a robber is trying to block your path.

A letter bomb, for example, can usually be pretty easily identified -- if you know what to look for. Letter bombs are usually rather bulky and are unevenly balanced. Be suspicious of packages wrapped in string. Watch out for excess postage on small packages, which is an indication that the letter was not weighed at a post office. Also watch out for leaks, oily stains, protruding wires or excessive tape. Watch out for articles with no return address or a nonsensical return address.

The book elaborates at some length about how to search for bombs with detection devices and other means for locating bombs.

Of course, the best way to escape danger and injury, or even death, is to run or avoid dangerous situations where and whenever possible. But emergencies are not always predictable or avoidable. You just never know.

To treat a bullet or knife wound the first rule is not to pull out any impaled objects, as this may result in excessive bleeding that is hard to control. To take a punch to the head, move toward the blow and not away from it. A straight punch to the face should be dealt with similarly.

The Survival Handbook contains advice on no less than 40 emergency situations with clear drawings to illustrate the subject. As the authors say in their preface, it is a good book to keep on hand at all times. And if no emergencies arise -- and hopefully they don't -- it is still good entertainment.

-- Hartoyo Pratiknyo