We’ve created this article to get you started. When you start on your path in emergency preparation, it can seem overwhelming and can be more than a bit of stress and anxiety-ridden.

Questions about what you need, what is best to have, food, water required, type of disaster, and more can make it challenging to understand which direction you should be methodically plodding along. As a result, you either feel overwhelmed with anxiety and miss living your life today, or you purchase things you probably will never use. Hopefully, you will never use any of your emergency supplies to survive, but it may be the difference between life and death if you ever do.

In this Getting Started Guide, we will simplify what you need and get you moving in the right direction. Our approach here is to break down the types of disasters you may face and provide a basic understanding of the minimal/essential items you may need to survive them. Just like you will never have everything you could ever need to survive any disaster, by completing the checklists here, you will have what you need, to get by and survive through the broadest range of possible emergencies.

Levels of disasters

Your first step is to list out all the disasters that are likely or probable in your area. Then it would help if you listed them from the most likely to occur to the least likely to occur. If you live in the path of hurricanes and there are enough historical records to show that there is a very high likelihood your area will be hit again, obviously, that would be top of your list and would be much higher than civil unrest or a terrorist attack.

Preparing for an Earthquake might not even be on your list. When you prepare for the possibility of one disaster, you end up prepping for a host of possible known and unknown disasters. Pick your top 3 probable disasters from your list and make those your priorities to prepare for. If an even more significant, unpredictable disaster befalls you, you will still be well-equipped by focusing on these three.

Define the length of duration and multiply by 3. By duration, I mean from the time the disaster occurs until typical relief rolls in. If you are prepping for an event with an unknown relief time frame, use 3 weeks as your minimum. Some people prepare for 72 hours and call it done. That is the standard suggestion from most government organizations. 72 hours is an excellent minimum goal, and it might be enough for most people if ALL people met this minimal goal; however, most people don’t have a day’s worth of food or water in their homes. If the municipal water supply ever stopped, they would immediately be thirsty.

Minimally, you should assign any Level 2 or 3 disaster three weeks. When you have met that goal, multiply by three and make your new goal 9 weeks. When you meet that goal, multiply by three and set a new goal for 27 weeks. That’s a half-year. If you can live a half-year through a grid-down disaster with no relief on the horizon, you’re probably going to make it overall.

Assess the preps you need and make a list accordingly. There are a few preps that are common to all disasters-- natural or human-caused. The need for food, water, medical, hygiene, and energy, be it electrical or biofuel like wood which can be burned for heat and light, are common to all disasters. So, if you need a place to start, these are the preps to begin with.

In the upcoming article, we will cover food requirements and advise.