Why 72 hours
Federal and state emergency-management guidance has converged on a 72-hour personal preparedness target: every household should be able to shelter in place, or evacuate to a safer location, with the supplies they have on hand for at least three days. The 72-hour window is not magic; it reflects the typical time for organized federal disaster response to mobilize and begin reaching affected households.
In practice, recent events have stressed the 72-hour target. Hurricane Maria's impact on Puerto Rico, the 2021 Texas winter storm, and the 2023 Maui wildfires all involved sustained periods where households were on their own well beyond three days. FEMA and the Red Cross now recommend extending the kit toward five to seven days where storage space allows.
This guide is designed to be useful regardless of which disaster type concerns you most. The core kit is identical; the variations at the end add region-specific items for hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, winter storms, and floods.
The core kit: what every household should have
The list below comes from cross-referencing Ready.gov, the American Red Cross, the CDC, and FEMA's National Preparedness System. It assumes a four-person household; scale accordingly.
Water and food
- Water: one gallon per person per day for at least three days. That is 12 gallons for a four-person household for three days, 24 gallons for a week. Store in food-grade plastic containers (not used milk jugs, which leach). Rotate every six months.
- Non-perishable food: at least three days of shelf-stable food per person. Canned proteins, peanut butter, granola bars, dried fruit, crackers, instant coffee. Read labels; many "energy bars" are mostly sugar and unsatisfying. Include a manual can opener.
- Special diets. Infant formula, baby food, allergy-friendly options, diabetes-management supplies. These items are the first to disappear from stores during a forecast disaster; stock ahead.
- Pet food and water. A common omission. One gallon per medium pet per day, three days of food.
Power and light
- Flashlight per person. LED headlamps are dramatically better than handheld flashlights because they free both hands; ~$15 each. Keep spare batteries with the lights, not separately.
- Battery-powered or hand-crank NOAA Weather Radio. Models from Midland, Eton, or RadioShack run $25–$75. Critical for forecasts and alerts when cellular fails.
- Battery banks (power banks). At least 10,000 mAh per person; 20,000 mAh is better. Charge them monthly.
- AAA, AA, C, D, and lithium coin batteries. Inventory what your devices use. Replace every two years even if unused.
- A small solar charging panel. USB-output, foldable, $30–$80. Useful in any multi-day outage with sunlight.
Communication
- Phone with charger and a backup cable. Older phones held in a kit serve as a backup. Confirm they can dial 911 even without a SIM card (US law requires this for cellular devices).
- Family communication plan. A printed card in every wallet with: out-of-state contact phone, meeting place outside the home, meeting place outside the neighborhood. Use of FEMA's standard template is fine.
- Printed list of important numbers. Insurance carriers, primary care doctor, school office, work supervisor, family members. Cellular contact lists do not help when phones are dead.
Health and hygiene
- First-aid kit. A pre-packaged 100-piece kit is sufficient for most households; supplement with prescription medications. Replace expired contents annually.
- Prescription medications: 7 days minimum. Most pharmacies will refill early for a documented disaster. Insulin and other refrigerated medications complicate planning — discuss with your pharmacist before the season.
- Over-the-counter staples. Acetaminophen or ibuprofen, antihistamines, antacids, anti-diarrhea medication, electrolyte packets.
- N95 respirators per person. Useful in wildfire smoke, dust, and post-disaster cleanup. They have a shelf life; check the manufacturer's date.
- Hand sanitizer, soap, baby wipes. Wet wipes are valuable when water is restricted.
- Feminine hygiene products, incontinence supplies, diapers. Personal to the household.
- Toothbrushes and toothpaste.
- A small towel and washcloth per person.
Tools
- Multi-tool or pliers and screwdriver. A Leatherman or Gerber is overbuilt for $50; a basic multi-tool is $15.
- Duct tape. Repairs everything from a torn tarp to a broken backpack strap.
- Plastic sheeting and contractor garbage bags. Improvise shelter, contain debris, line a bucket toilet.
- Whistle per person. Far more effective than shouting; can be heard a mile away.
- Work gloves. Leather, well-fitting. Cleaning up storm debris with bare hands produces preventable injuries.
- Cash. Several hundred dollars in small bills. Card readers fail; cash works.
Documents
- Insurance policies, deeds, IDs, passports, marriage and birth certificates. Copies in a waterproof container in the kit plus originals in cloud storage with two-factor authentication. Many families discover during a fire or flood that the only physical copies of these documents are in the affected building.
- Photos of valuables and serial numbers. See the companion guide on documenting storm damage for an insurance claim.
- Family medical history. Allergies, current medications, immunization status. Especially important for elderly family members.
Clothing and shelter
- One change of clothes per person. Layers, including a warm layer and a rain layer.
- Sturdy closed-toe shoes per person. Disaster cleanup involves broken glass, nails, and unstable debris.
- Emergency blankets. Mylar "space blankets" are tiny and cheap; one per person plus a couple of spares for warmth.
- A wool or fleece blanket per person. Mylar is for emergencies; a real blanket is for sustained cold.
Sanitation (if water service fails)
- 5-gallon bucket with a lid, plus garbage bags. Used as a toilet with bags as liners, this is more humane than improvising for days.
- Bleach or sanitation tablets. A few drops of unscented bleach treat water; check Ready.gov for the current dosing chart by water source.
- Toilet paper, more than you think you need.
Regional variations
Hurricanes (Atlantic and Gulf coasts)
- Extend water storage to 7 days. Power restoration in hurricane events routinely exceeds 72 hours.
- A small inverter or generator can power a refrigerator, lighting, and a CPAP. If you buy a generator, also buy carbon-monoxide detectors and follow Ready.gov's placement guidance (20+ feet from the home, exhaust pointed away from windows and doors). CO poisoning from misplaced generators is one of the most preventable hurricane fatalities.
- Pre-pack a separate evacuation bag in case shelter-in-place becomes evacuation in 24 hours.
Earthquakes (Pacific Coast, Intermountain West, New Madrid)
- Strap heavy items in your kit storage area to the wall — the kit is useless if it is buried under a fallen bookcase.
- Closed-toe shoes near every bed. Most earthquake injuries from broken glass are foot lacerations during evacuation.
- Crescent wrench or natural-gas shutoff tool near the gas meter, with a tag showing how to turn off gas (only if you smell it or hear hissing).
- Helmet-style protection for children for sustained aftershock periods.
Wildfires (western US, increasingly other regions)
- N95 respirators per person, replaced annually.
- HEPA portable air cleaner or HVAC MERV-13 filter at home.
- Go-bag separate from the shelter-in-place kit. Wildfire evacuations are time-compressed; you may have 30 minutes to leave.
- Hard drives and irreplaceable photo backups in the go-bag.
Winter storms (anywhere, but especially the South unprepared for sustained cold)
- Battery-powered space heater or, more practically, a propane heater rated for indoor use. Never use unrated combustion heaters indoors.
- Battery-powered carbon-monoxide detectors. Multiple. CO is the dominant winter-storm fatality cause when heating systems fail and households improvise.
- Heavy sleeping bags rated to at least 20°F.
- Snow shovel and ice melt.
Floods (everywhere, but especially low-elevation and urban-flooding-prone homes)
- A waterproof container for the whole kit. Tubs sold for under-bed storage with weatherproof seals are $20–$40.
- Sump pump and a battery backup if your home has a basement.
- A small rope (50 feet, 550-paracord-rated) and a life jacket if there are non-swimmers in the household.
Where to put the kit
Storage matters as much as contents. Two principles:
- The kit must be reachable in any single failure mode. A kit in the garage is useless if the garage is on fire or under water. Keep the kit in a closet, mudroom, or interior space that is accessible regardless of which part of the home is compromised.
- The kit must be liftable. A 70-pound kit is not a 72-hour kit; it is a museum. Use two or three smaller containers labeled by category. Rolling totes are excellent.
A small "grab kit" — backpack-sized, with water, snacks, flashlight, medications, documents, phone charger — should live by the front door for evacuations where you have minutes, not hours.
Maintenance
Twice a year — at daylight-saving time changes — refresh:
- Water (rotate)
- Food (rotate near-expiry items)
- Batteries (replace if more than two years old)
- Medications (replace expired)
- Documents (refresh if anything has changed)
- Kids' clothes (sizes change)
A 30-minute calendar reminder, twice a year, is the difference between a kit you can trust and a kit that becomes a liability when you need it.