Emergency planning

Start with the first ten days

Plan for interrupted services, delayed assistance, and separated household members. The aim is not isolation; it is buying time so scarce responders can reach the most urgent cases.

• Write down two meeting places: one nearby and one outside the neighborhood.
• Choose an out-of-area contact and print the number.
• List medications, mobility needs, dietary needs, dependents, pets, and practical responsibilities.
• Store water, food, light, warmth, sanitation supplies, first aid, documents, and a way to receive alerts.

Make the plan usable

A plan is only real if every person can find it and practice the important parts. Keep a paper copy with the emergency kit and revisit it after moves, new medications, seasonal changes, or family changes.

• Mark utility shutoffs, exits, safe areas, hazards, and routes on a paper map.
• Assign roles, but give each role a backup.
• Practice a short check-in drill and a leave-now drill.
• Record what was missing, confusing, or impossible, then revise.

Keep a household resource log

Use one paper sheet to track what the household can actually do without services. Update it at agreed morning and evening checks and whenever conditions change. Record the time, remaining supplies, next action, and person responsible.

• Track safe water, ready-to-eat meals, medication needs, essential battery power, transport, and the next reliable information update.
• Estimate water coverage as usable litres divided by the whole household’s daily requirement. Include cooking and hygiene, extra needs, and pets; do not stretch the estimate by unsafe under-drinking.
• Set a resupply or assistance trigger before a resource runs out, allowing time for travel, queues, accessibility needs, and a failed first attempt.
• Test supplies rather than counting objects: check lights, matching batteries, charging cables, the radio, and the manual can opener. Budget cooking water and fuel as well as food.

Use restoration windows deliberately

Briefly restored power or water is an opportunity to restore essential capacity, not proof that the emergency has ended. Keep following conservation requests and utility instructions.

• When electrical service is safe to use, prioritize essential medical equipment according to the care plan, then communications and lighting. Record what actually recharged.
• Refill drinking-water containers only from a confirmed safe source and within local conservation rules. Restored pressure does not cancel an advisory.
• Before a supply trip, verify the destination is open, what it has, accepted payment methods, and a safe return route. Keep transport capacity available for urgent needs.
• Reassess staying or relocating if safe water, sanitation, tolerable indoor temperature, essential care, or an accessible exit cannot be maintained. Arrange help before supplies or mobility are exhausted; follow evacuation orders promptly.

Choose fallback locations by local hazards

Compare a possible refuge against mapped local hazards and the services people actually need. Distance from a city or a single elevation number cannot establish safety.

• Check local flood, tsunami, wildfire, landslide, and volcanic hazard information as relevant. Identify the evacuation zone, usable routes, and an alternative destination.
• Confirm permission to stay, safe water, sanitation, seasonal shelter, transport, and access to essential care. A remote location can lose services too.
• Do not use a score made by adding elevation in feet to distance from the coast in miles. It has no validated meaning as a safety threshold.

Build a skills and backup roster

Supplies buy time; maintenance, practical skills, and cooperation help sustain that time. Build a small voluntary roster around essential work rather than expecting one person to do everything.

• For water, meals, repairs, caregiving, communications, and transport, record a willing lead, a backup, available tools, and actual experience. Protect personal contact and health information.
• Practice a handover with the usual lead unavailable. Check whether a backup can complete the task with the available instructions and equipment.
• Estimate time and materials as well as output. Agree how shared work and supplies will be distributed, leaving room for illness, rest, disability, and caring responsibilities.
• Start with low-risk practice such as clothing repair, tool care, or a small garden suited to current local conditions. Do not count a first harvest or untested skill as an emergency food supply.
• Food preservation needs a tested process and suitable equipment. Learn with qualified instruction before relying on it; canning times, acidity, and processing methods are not interchangeable.

Decision rule

Protect life first, communicate second, preserve supplies third. If a building, road, or utility is unsafe, do not remain in place merely because it is familiar.