Preparing for a natural disaster comes down to four things: supplies to sustain your household, a plan to find each other, documents you can grab in seconds, and knowing how to secure your home. Most of this takes a single afternoon to set up and a few minutes each year to maintain. Here’s how to do it right.
Build a Water Supply First
Water is the most critical supply and the first to disappear from store shelves when a disaster warning hits. The CDC recommends storing at least one gallon per person, per day for a minimum of three days. That gallon covers drinking, cooking, and basic hygiene like brushing teeth. A family of four needs 12 gallons at the bare minimum, but a two-week supply is a safer target if you have the space.
Store-bought sealed water bottles are the simplest option because they have a long shelf life and require no treatment. If you fill containers from your tap, use food-grade plastic or glass, and rotate the supply every six months. Keep your water in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight and chemicals like gasoline or pesticides, which can leach through plastic over time.
Stock Food That Lasts
The average person needs 2,000 to 2,400 calories per day to maintain energy, and more if you’re doing physical work like clearing debris or walking long distances. Budget around 2,000 calories daily for women and 2,400 for men. If strenuous activity is likely, add roughly 200 calories on top of that.
Focus on nutrient-dense foods with a long shelf life: canned meats, fruits, and vegetables (with a manual can opener), peanut butter, nuts, dried fruit, protein bars, dry cereal, crackers, and non-perishable pasteurized milk. Fiber matters too. A kit full of sugary snacks will hit your calorie count but leave you with digestive problems at the worst possible time. Commercial emergency food bars are marketed as a three-day supply, but many only provide about 1,200 calories per day, roughly half of what most adults need. They work as a supplement, not a sole food source.
Don’t forget comfort foods. Stress eating is real during a crisis, and familiar snacks or treats can make a meaningful difference in morale, especially for kids. If anyone in your household is an infant or has dietary restrictions, plan their food separately.
Gather Medications and Medical Supplies
Disasters close pharmacies and disrupt supply chains. Keep a dedicated supply of any prescription medications outside of your everyday bottles. In many states, emergency provisions allow pharmacists to dispense a 72-hour supply without prior authorization, but that assumes a pharmacy is open and accessible. Three days is the absolute floor. Aim for a two-week buffer if your doctor or insurance plan allows early refills.
Your kit should also include prescription eyeglasses or contact lens solution, over-the-counter pain relievers, any vitamins or supplements you rely on, and a basic first aid kit with bandages, antiseptic, and adhesive tape. If you use medical devices that require power (a CPAP machine, a nebulizer), research battery backup options in advance. A portable power station rated for your device’s wattage can keep it running through a multi-day outage.
Protect Your Important Documents
If you had to leave your home in ten minutes, could you grab everything you’d need to prove your identity, file an insurance claim, or access your money? Most people can’t. Gather copies of the following and store them in a waterproof, portable container:
- Identification: driver’s licenses, passports, birth certificates, Social Security cards
- Financial records: bank account numbers, credit card information, recent tax returns
- Insurance policies: homeowner’s or renter’s, auto, health, and flood insurance
- Medical records: prescription lists, vaccination records, insurance cards
- Property records: deeds, mortgage documents, vehicle titles
Back everything up digitally as well. Scanned copies stored on a password-protected USB drive, encrypted cloud storage, or both give you a second layer of access if your physical copies are lost. Keep the waterproof container somewhere you can reach in the dark, ideally near your go-bag.
Make a Family Communication Plan
Cell towers overload or go down during major disasters, so your plan can’t rely entirely on phone calls. Identify a family meeting place that everyone knows and can reach independently, somewhere familiar and easy to find like a neighbor’s house, a local park, or a specific corner of a school parking lot. Pick a second location further away in case your neighborhood is inaccessible.
Designate an out-of-state contact as your family’s information hub. During localized disasters, long-distance calls and texts often go through even when local networks are jammed. Every family member should have this person’s number memorized or written on a card in their wallet. Make sure everyone, including children, knows the plan before an emergency happens. A plan nobody remembers isn’t a plan.
Know How to Shut Off Your Utilities
Earthquakes can rupture gas lines. Floods can short-circuit electrical systems. Knowing where and how to turn off your gas, water, and electricity can prevent fires, explosions, and water damage.
Locate your gas meter’s shutoff valve and keep a wrench nearby that fits it. Most valves require a quarter turn with a crescent wrench or a dedicated gas shutoff tool. For electricity, know where your main breaker panel is and how to flip the main switch. When power goes out, disconnect appliances and electronics right away. Power often returns with surges or spikes that can fry sensitive equipment. Reconnect them one at a time after service stabilizes. Your water shutoff valve is typically near the street or where the main line enters your house. Turning it off prevents contaminated water from entering your plumbing if a boil-water advisory is issued.
Walk through each shutoff with every adult in your household at least once. Doing it for the first time in the dark during an earthquake is a recipe for mistakes.
Prepare for Your Pets
Pets need their own disaster kit. The CDC recommends a two-week supply of food for each animal stored in waterproof containers, a two-week supply of water, and a two-week supply of any medications. Add a one-month supply of flea, tick, and heartworm preventative, along with non-spill food and water dishes.
Documentation matters for pets too. Keep photocopied veterinary records, rabies certificates, vaccination history, and proof of ownership or adoption records in a waterproof container. Include recent photographs of each pet, a written description with breed, sex, color, and weight, and your microchip information with the chip number and the company’s contact details. If you’re evacuated to a shelter, many facilities require proof of vaccination before they’ll accept animals. Having those records ready can mean the difference between keeping your pet with you and scrambling to find a boarding facility.
Write out boarding instructions too: feeding schedule, behavioral quirks, medications. If someone else ends up caring for your animal, they’ll need that information.
Assemble a Go-Bag for Quick Evacuations
Your larger emergency supply is for sheltering in place. A go-bag is the smaller, portable version you grab when you have minutes to leave. Each adult in your household should have one packed and stored near the door. At minimum, include:
- Water and food: one to two liters of water and calorie-dense bars or snacks for 24 hours
- Clothing: one change of weather-appropriate clothes and sturdy shoes
- Light and power: a flashlight with extra batteries and a portable phone charger
- Cash: small bills, since ATMs and card readers go offline during power outages
- Hygiene basics: toothbrush, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, personal sanitation supplies
- Documents: your waterproof document container or USB drive
- Medications: a three-day supply of prescriptions and basic first aid items
If you have children, pack age-appropriate supplies in their own small bag: a comfort item, snacks they’ll actually eat, and an index card with your name, phone number, and emergency contact information in case you get separated.
Maintain Your Kit Over Time
A disaster kit you packed three years ago and forgot about is unreliable. Set a calendar reminder twice a year, many people use daylight saving time changes as a prompt, to rotate food and water, check medication expiration dates, update documents, and swap seasonal clothing in go-bags. Replace batteries in flashlights and smoke detectors at the same time. Review your family communication plan and make sure phone numbers and meeting locations are still current. Preparation isn’t a one-time project. It’s a habit that takes about 30 minutes twice a year to keep current.