Terrorism comes in many forms and it does not have to be spawned by some radical group with a political agenda.

That means you have to maintain awareness at all times in public and you must follow basic rules like this to make sure you can react, respond and make it to safety.

Know How To Look For Warning Signs

The first thing you need to know to survive a terrorist attack is how to look for warning signs. Granted, there’s no denying that terrorist attacks are largely random events that can happen anywhere at anytime. The goal of terrorists is to spread fear and panic via chaos, and it’s very easy to do that when surprise is on their side.

Nonetheless, there are still some ways you can be on the lookout for danger or a terrorist attack in your day-to-day life. While you will likely be caught off guard by a terrorist attack no matter what, if you see any warning signs right before one happens, it can help to minimize the effect of the surprise and enable you to react faster, which can mean the difference between life and death.

Here is what you should watch out for:

• Anyone Appearing to Be Conducting Covert Surveillance

Terrorists almost always survey areas before making their attack. It’s part of the planning stage. Usually, the surveillance will be conducted a day or more before the attack takes place. The reason terrorists examine an area before attacking it is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the location. They’ll take note of evacuation routes, security measures, monitoring devices, and any law enforcement units nearby. If you see someone who appears to be taking surveillance shots of the area discreetly with a phone or camera, specifically at the above things, it could indicate that something isn’t entirely right.

• Unusually Suspicious People Who Don’t Seem to Fit In

Don’t monitor people for what they look like. Monitor them for how they are behaving. Examples of suspicious behavior in an ordinary environment include: stowing aboard a ship, using unusual language, asking weird questions, having an ‘off’ demeanor. In addition, if a person is wearing excessively large clothing for their size, it could be because they are trying to conceal weapons.

• Anyone With Unusually Large Bags

If you see someone carrying a bag that is unusually large or heavy, it’s possible they’re just carrying gym gear or some kind of luggage. But if the person with the heavy bag is also acting suspicious, or if they leave their bag behind somewhere, it should cause concern.

• Any Sign of Potentially Dangerous Tampering

Don’t just pay attention to suspicious people; pay attention to suspicious scenarios. If you smell something strange in your building, if something is leaking, or if you see evidence of physical tampering with something in a public transportation vehicle or building, you should alert the authorities immediately.

• Anyone Getting Into Position For An Attack

Finally, if you see a group of people getting into a coordinated position to make an apparent attack, you should definitely alert the authorities. In fact, this is probably your last chance to do so before the actual attack takes place.

Know How To Survive

If a terrorist attack happens at or near your present location, you need to get out of there immediately! Here are some tips to follow that will increase your chances of surviving:

• Keep Emergency Supplies In Your Car

Before a terrorist attack even happens, you should already have emergency supplies in your car, just in case. Even if you don’t have these things with you when the attack happens, there’s still a chance you could make it to your car and get them. You could very well become injured in the middle of the attack and require immediate medical attention. And if that happens, you’ll never be more thankful for a first aid kit and the knowledge of how to use it.

• Get Out of the Building

If you’re inside the building where the attack is happening, you need to leave as quickly as possible (obviously). Hopefully you already know where the exit doors are (if not, you should make a habit of always looking for exits wherever you go, an important part of situational awareness). Take the stairs rather than the elevator in case the power goes out; the last thing you want is to get stuck in an elevator. Carefully check around corners before moving, and move quickly from cover to cover. Keep in mind the situation will be chaotic so you may have to move through crowds of people.

• Find REAL Cover

You’ll notice that I just said to move quickly from cover to cover. By cover I don’t just mean any cover. I mean real cover. Real cover is not behind a desk or a couch.

Neither of those things have any chance of stopping bullets, so terrorists can easily shoot through them and hit you. Ideal cover would be behind or under things such as concrete, which actually stand a good chance of deflecting bullets. (Here’s some more information on how to survive a public shooting.)

• Keep Your Mouth and Nose Covered

This especially applies if there are people falling down and choking around you. Use more than just your hands. You should use an article of clothing to keep your mouth and nose completely covered. Anything from a T-shirt to a handkerchief will work. The clothing will work even better if it is soaked in water.

• Avoid The Windows

Explosions can cause glass windows to shatter into thousands of pieces and inflict open wounds on you, so stay away from windows if at all possible.

• Stay Calm

This one will be difficult since your adrenaline will be pumping and you’ll be right in the middle of the chaos. But you can’t allow yourself to be controlled by fear and panic. Instead, use common sense and control your breathing. Doing so can and will keep you alive.

Know How To Communicate In An Emergency

Once you’ve escaped or fought your way out of the building or area of the terrorist attack, you’ll probably be thinking about how to get in touch with your family. Maybe they’re safe on the other side of town, but for all you know the other side of town has been hit as well.

Everyone in your household should know everybody else’s basic communication info by memory, such as e-mail addresses, social media profiles, cell phone numbers, and so on. In addition, everyone in your family should have a list of people to contact beyond those in the household, and everyone should have the contact information for those people as well.

It’s a good idea for at least two or three of your contacts to be out of the state or at least far away from your location. If they haven’t been affected by the terrorist attack, they might be able to lend you some kind of help or support.

In case you’re in a situation where you can’t use phones or computers to contact family members, you should have a back-up communication method. Satellite phones, Ham radios, CB radios, and two way radios are your best options for this.

Terrorism is a fact of life that everyone in the world has to live with; in the US, we have had several recent reminders since 9/11, even of the acts of terrorism are not on the scale of the attacks on the World Trade Centers or the Pentagon.

Since that is a fact, constant diligence and being aware of immediate surroundings is key as is having a plan if you or your loved ones are caught up in an attack.

To learn more strategies and tactics for anticipating, avoiding and enduring terrorism, check out the Urban Survival Site.