About

A real project, documented honestly

When It Goes Down isn't an expert persona or a doomsday brand. It's a record of one household's preparedness system being built in real time.

I live and work online from Cozumel, Mexico. Reliable electricity and internet aren't a convenience for me — they directly affect my ability to run my businesses.

Electrical interruptions here are frequent enough, and brief enough, that they became a recurring problem: a flicker restarts networking equipment, and a restarted modem ends a call. That's where this started.

From there it grew naturally. Backup power for critical equipment. Then longer-duration power. Then the question of internet redundancy. Then solar as a way to replenish energy. Then water. Then everything else that becomes obvious once you start looking.

I document what I personally own, use, test and learn — and I'm equally clear about what I haven't done yet.

Derk in his real home office in Cozumel, seated beside the computers and networking equipment he depends on for work — Me in the Cozumel office where this preparedness system started.

The person behind When It Goes Down

I'm Derk. I live and work online from Cozumel, Mexico. This isn't a preparedness system I designed on paper. I'm building it at my own home, one layer at a time, because losing power or internet can mean losing my ability to work.

What started with keeping my modem and router alive through brief power interruptions has grown into backup power, generator capacity, stored water, internet redundancy and plans for solar and Starlink.

I'm documenting what I actually buy, install, use and learn along the way—including what works, what doesn't and what I haven't tested yet.

The founder's actual desk setup: EcoFlow power station, Telmex modem and Anker surge-protected power strip — Where it began: keeping networking equipment powered through brief interruptions.

The home office in Cozumel where the founder works online: desk, laptops and networking equipment — The home office in Cozumel — the place all of this is built to protect.

What I am not

I'm not a licensed electrician, an emergency-management professional, a meteorologist, an engineer, a medical professional or a survival expert. Nothing on this site is professional advice. For safety-critical topics, use manufacturer documentation and authoritative official sources.

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