Be Ready
Kits, plans and the first steps for outages, earthquakes, fires and evacuations.
Most emergencies are ordinary: the power goes out overnight, the ground shakes during school pickup, a fire warning gives you twenty minutes. This topic is where the 72-hour kit, the household plan and the step-by-step scenarios live.
Start with the free 72-Hour Readiness Plan, then work through the guides one weekend at a time. Nothing here asks for a bunker, just a few calm decisions made ahead of time.
In this topic: 26 one-page guides · 3 articles · 3 scenarios · 3 gear reviews
Kit guide
Twelve purchases from first to last, so the first twenty-five dollars does the most good.
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Scenario guide
What actually stops working after a major Southern California earthquake, and for how long.
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Kit guide
Three days for an infant or toddler, packed so one adult can carry the baby and the other carries everything else.
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Home guide
No garage, no solar, no drilling into walls, and you might move next year. Here is what still works.
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Skills guide
Gas stove with an electric igniter, electric microwave, no yard, no fireplace. Here is how you eat.
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Family guide
How a household practices for the shaking and the dark so children feel capable, not afraid.
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Home guide
CPAP, oxygen, refrigerated medicine, a power chair: what keeps running, and who to call before the shutoff.
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Family guide
How to get an older parent ready from another city, without moving them or arguing about it.
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Skills guide
A gallon per person per day, in an apartment with no garage and no spare closet.
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Home guide
The fixes that matter most when the power, the water or the neighborhood is not normal.
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Scenario guide
What actually goes in the car, in the order it matters.
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Supplies guide
Cheap, useful every week, and the first things to run out when stores close.
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Southern California
A Public Safety Power Shutoff gives you a day or two of warning. Here is what to do with it.
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Skills guide
Filtering clears it. Disinfecting makes it safe. You usually need both.
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Kit guide
Most shelters will not take your animals. This is how they leave with you anyway.
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Scenario guide
The first hour, in order. Most of the damage happens in the choices you make right now.
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Scenario guide
What to do while it is shaking, and the order to work in once it stops.
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Skills guide
Twelve mistakes that get people sick faster than hunger does.
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Scenario guide
How to keep a house and the people in it safe when it is over a hundred and the power is out.
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Home guide
Twelve things to fix or find, most of them with a wrench and a free evening.
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Skills guide
A clarity filter from things already in the house, and the one step people skip.
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Home guide
Twelve things to put in one folder by the door, so paperwork never costs you a day.
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Kit guide
Twelve things for the trunk, cheapest and most important first.
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Gear Lab guide
Twelve ways to keep phones, lights and a fridge going, from best to barely.
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Kit guide
Everything a household needs for three days with no help, and nothing it does not.
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Home guide
How a normal household eats, stays clean, keeps cool or warm, and sleeps when the grid is gone for days.
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Power outageIt is 8pm, the lights just went out, and the outage map says twelve hours.
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EarthquakeYou are third in the car line when the ground starts moving.
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Wildfire evacuationYour phone buzzes with a fire evacuation warning for your zone.
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72-hour kit 5 min read
The short list that covers the first three days, and the expensive extras you can skip.
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Home safety 4 min read
Four fixes you can finish before dinner, using a wrench and about forty dollars.
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Car & budget 4 min read
What belongs in the trunk when you drive your kids around, on a budget that is already spent.
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Water · $
The first thing to buy. One jug is about two days for a family of four, it stacks in a garage, and it costs less than a takeout dinner.
Communication · $$
Worth it if your outages last days or you are in fire country. If your power comes back in hours, your phone and a charged power bank already do this job.
Power · $$$
The backup power most households should buy before a generator. Silent, safe indoors, and it runs phones, lights, a router and a CPAP overnight.
