Emergencies & Resilience

You don't need specialist gear or a bunker. Practical resilience is mostly about storing a little of what you use anyway, knowing how to stay warm and informed without power, and having a simple plan agreed with your household.

Why resilience is part of sustainability

Sustainability is often understood as reducing your impact on the world. Resilience is the other side of the coin: reducing your vulnerability to disruptions in the systems you depend on. The two reinforce each other.

A household that keeps a stock of shelf-stable food, grows some of its own produce, and knows its neighbours wastes less (because it buys thoughtfully and rotates stock), spends less (because it's not dependent on one supplier), and recovers faster from disruptions — whether that's a severe storm, a supply chain problem, or a personal emergency. This is self-reliant living in the most practical sense, and it happens to be lighter on resources too.

Resilience also has a community dimension. Neighbours who know each other, share resources, and check in on vulnerable people are the single most important factor in how well a community weathers a crisis. No amount of individual gear substitutes for connected, mutually supportive people.

Water and food basics

Water is the first priority in any emergency. Clean water can be disrupted by flooding, infrastructure failure, or contamination long before food becomes scarce.

• Store drinking water. A widely cited starting point is at least three days of water — roughly 2 to 4 litres per person per day for drinking and basic sanitation. Keep water in clean, food-safe containers with lids. Commercially bottled water has a printed date; tap water stored in clean containers is generally fine for six months if kept away from light and heat.
• Know how to make uncertain water safe. Boiling for at least one minute kills most pathogens. Water purification tablets are a compact backup. A basic filter (ceramic or hollow-fibre) removes particulate matter and many pathogens. Having one method available is sensible in areas prone to floods or pipe disruption.
• Build a food store you actually eat. The most sustainable emergency food store is simply a larger quantity of the shelf-stable foods your household eats anyway — tinned beans, tomatoes, fish, rice, oats, pasta, dried lentils, peanut butter. Aim for a few days to two weeks, depending on the hazards in your area. Rotate stock by putting new purchases at the back and eating from the front.
• Think about cooking without power. A camp stove with a gas canister, a barbecue, or a wood-burning option gives you the ability to heat food and boil water if electricity or gas is interrupted. Store enough fuel for a few days. Never use outdoor stoves or barbecues indoors — carbon monoxide is odourless and lethal.
• Low-waste, low-fuss foods. Choose foods with long shelf lives, minimal packaging, and minimal preparation — tinned and dried foods are ideal. Avoid the temptation to stockpile foods your family won't eat; they won't get used, and they'll get thrown away.

Power and heat outages

Short power cuts are common in many places; longer ones, though rarer, do happen. Most of what you need is likely already in your home.

• Light. Keep at least one reliable torch with fresh or rechargeable batteries. A battery-powered or solar lantern lights a room without open flame. Avoid relying entirely on candles — they are a fire risk, especially around children, pets, or curtains.
• Warmth. In cold climates, a power cut in winter is the most serious risk. Layer clothing and use sleeping bags or extra blankets to retain body heat. Identify the warmest room in your home (usually an internal room) and concentrate there if needed. If you have a wood stove, keep a modest stock of fuel. Know where your nearest warming shelter is.
• Charged devices. Keep a power bank charged and ready. In an extended outage, phone battery is your link to information and emergency services. Charging in your car is an option, but never run a car engine in a closed garage.
• Safe practices. Never use gas ovens or hobs for space heating — they produce carbon monoxide and are a serious fire risk. If you use a generator, run it outdoors only, well away from windows and doors. Know where your household's fuse box, gas stopcock, and water stopcock are so you can act quickly if needed.
• Medical and mobility needs. If anyone in your household depends on powered medical equipment (oxygen concentrators, dialysis, powered wheelchairs), contact your utility provider in advance — many maintain registers of vulnerable customers for priority reconnection and support during outages.

Staying informed and connected

During an emergency, accurate, timely information can be as important as physical supplies — and it can reach you even when power and internet are out.

• Battery or wind-up radio. A battery-powered or hand-crank radio receives emergency broadcasts even when internet and mobile data are unavailable. AM and FM frequencies carry official alerts in most countries. Keep one charged or with spare batteries.
• Emergency contacts list. Keep a printed list of important contacts — family members, neighbours, your GP, utility emergency lines — in case your phone runs out of battery or your contacts app is inaccessible.
• A household plan. Agree simple things before you need them: where you'll meet if you can't be at home, who will collect children from school, who will check on elderly or vulnerable neighbours, and what you'll do if you need to evacuate. A plan agreed calmly in advance is worth far more than improvising under stress.
• Know your local warning systems. Many areas have sirens, mobile alerts, or community notification systems for flooding, severe weather, or other hazards. Find out what applies where you live and make sure your household knows what the signals mean and what to do.
• Neighbours. The most reliable communication network in a local emergency is often the one you build beforehand. Knowing which neighbours have particular needs or skills — a nurse, someone with a car, someone who needs help evacuating — is genuinely useful when things go wrong.

Build vs buy a kit — using what you own

Pre-packaged emergency kits exist and can be convenient, but a personally assembled kit is usually better: it reflects your household's actual needs, dietary requirements, medications, and budget. Most people already own the majority of what they need.

• Start with a checklist, not a shopping trip. Walk through your home and identify what you already have that belongs in a kit: torch, first-aid supplies, portable radio, blankets, spare medications, phone charger and power bank, water containers, shelf-stable food. See our emergency kit checklist for a complete room-by-room reference.
• Gather, then fill gaps. Collect what you have into one accessible place — a bag, box, or cupboard that everyone knows about. Then identify what's genuinely missing and add it gradually. There is rarely any need to spend a large sum at once.
• Reuse and repurpose. Old backpacks, cool bags, reusable containers, and tote bags all work perfectly well. Sealed food-grade buckets from takeaways or bakeries store water and dry goods. A headtorch from a camping drawer is as useful as a new one.
• Tailor it to your household. A kit for a household with a baby, an elderly person, a pet, or someone with a medical condition looks different to a generic one. Think through a few days at home without power and services, and ask what that household would actually need.
• Check it occasionally. Food and water expire; batteries discharge; medications need updating. A quick check once or twice a year — perhaps when the clocks change — keeps the kit ready without much effort.

Your easy wins checklist

• Find and bookmark your local/national emergency management authority's website.
• Store at least three days of drinking water in clean, sealed containers.
• Build a three-day shelf-stable food supply from foods you already eat, and rotate it.
• Check that your torch works and you have a spare power bank charged.
• Locate a battery or wind-up radio, or add one to your next shop.
• Agree and write down a simple household plan — meeting point, key contacts, who checks on neighbours.