Comprehensive Emergency Preparedness Guide

A step-by-step plan for assessing risks, building a kit, drafting an emergency plan, and keeping it all current.

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A complete approach to emergency preparedness

Step 1: Assess your risks

Start by identifying the hazards most likely to affect you. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency publishes county-level risk maps covering wildfires, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and chemical spills. List the top three risks for your area and let them shape your supply choices: a wildfire-prone household needs N95 masks and rapid evacuation gear, while a hurricane-prone household needs two weeks of water and power-outage supplies.

Step 2: Build the kit

Use the homepage checklist as your spine. Buy or set aside one item at a time so the cost spreads over a few months. Group the kit into a stay-at-home tier (food, water, first-aid, lighting, sanitation, communication) and a grab-and-go tier (a smaller backpack with documents, medication, cash, ID, and a 24-hour supply of food and water). Store the go-bag near the front door or in the car.

Step 3: Make a plan

Supplies do not save anyone if your family does not know what to do. Pick two evacuation routes from your home, two meeting points, and an out-of-area contact. Walk children through the plan and practise it twice a year. Sign up for local emergency alerts and decide in advance under what circumstances you will leave versus shelter in place.

Step 4: Maintain it

Rotate water every six months, food and batteries every year, and prescription medications according to expiration date. Recheck the plan whenever a family member moves, starts a new medication, or has a new pet.

About the EmergencyKit.app checklist

How we built it

EmergencyKit.app combines the official emergency-kit recommendations published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Red Cross, USA.gov's Ready.gov campaign, and the German Federal Office of Civil Protection (BBK) and Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB). Each item on the checklist is tagged with the organisations that recommend it so you can see at a glance how well-supported it is.

The 20% body-weight rule

A go-bag should weigh no more than roughly 20% of the carrier's body weight. Above that threshold, evacuating on foot becomes painful, slow, and risky for older or smaller adults and for children. The weight checker on the homepage estimates your kit's total weight from the items you select and warns you when you cross the limit, so you can swap heavier items for lighter alternatives before you actually need to leave.

Three days, then more

The baseline kit covers a 72-hour window because that is how long it typically takes public services to restore basic supplies after a major disaster. Households in high-risk regions for hurricanes, wildfires, or earthquakes should plan for at least two weeks of food, water, and prescription medication on top of the baseline kit.