Household Emergency Preparedness Guide

Northern Utah / Wasatch Front Edition

A free household preparedness framework, from an hours-long outage through a self-sustaining community.

The goal behind all of it: as many households as possible, genuinely ready for the worst, as fast as that's realistically possible. Not someone who stockpiled alone, someone their family and neighbors can actually count on.

Takes about 60 seconds, right now

Do one thing before you keep reading

Pick one person who lives outside your immediate area, a relative, an old friend, anyone. Text them this exact line: "If something happens here, I'll try to reach you first. Can I use you as my check-in contact?" Local phone lines jam in a real disaster; a call or text to someone far away usually still gets through. That's the whole task.

Why this exists

The Case for Preparedness

Real disasters, real costs, and the trend lines behind them: a warming climate now expected to cross 1.5°C, aging infrastructure, and federal data and capacity eroding at the same time risk is rising. The evidence this framework is built on, and why it matters more with each passing year.

Already decided you need to prepare? Skip this one, it's the data and argument for people who haven't, not a how-to.

Not Sure Where to Start?

New to all of this? Here are some options to get you going.

Start here

Ready, Set, Ready

Do this first. A 10-minute assessment, one gap closed for real, then a map for using everything else on this site at your own pace.

First 14 Days

If you have a weekend, here are the highest priority quick wins. Thirteen items, a bare-minimum safety net across everything at once, done fast instead of done deep.

Zero to Ready

If you don't want to pick your own order, here's one already built for you: all 15 topics this site covers, cheapest and most time-sensitive first.

Beta · opens in ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini

AI Prep Coach

If you'd rather talk it through, here's a free prompt that interviews you about your household and builds a plan from this site's actual pages.

Planning and Practice

What to learn, practice, buy, and stock for emergencies. Do these before you need them in the moment.

Practice this before you need it

What to Do Right Now

The reflexes for earthquake, tornado, fire, and flash flood, then the decision tree for everything else, including an intruder or nearby unrest. Practice it now, calmly, so it's already reflex if you ever need it for real.

The Readiness Ledger

Every purchase and every skill guide, merged into one checkable list from quick fixes to long-term self-sufficiency. Track your progress on everything at once instead of one topic at a time.

The Shopping List

Every physical purchase from the Manual in one place: exactly what to buy, and nothing you don't need.

By State

Your own state's laws, local agencies, and specific risks, all 50 states covered. Worth reading in full once you know roughly what you're building toward.

In-Depth Guides

The complete framework, once you've picked a path: manuals, step-by-step guides, and reference material behind everything else on this site.

Everything below is organized in four tiers of increasing duration and self-sufficiency, from an hours-long outage through a self-sustaining community:

Tier 1 · Short-to-Medium Term Tier 2 · Extended Tier 3 · Permanent Tier 4 · Thriving

The Manual

Preface, 15 chapters, and 3 appendices. What to have and do at each tier.

 Download PDF

Skill Guides

Seventy-seven step-by-step how-to guides, one core guide per topic plus guides that go deeper, sourced to CDC, FEMA, Red Cross, and other authorities. The hands-on layer underneath the Manual's chapters.

The Act of Surviving

Once you're safe, what actually happens next: a companion manual organized by chronology, from the first hour through recovery, not by category.

 Download PDF

The Act of Thriving

Once a community is meant to last, not just get through one event: a companion manual organized by a community's own life-stage, founding, governance, and what actually makes one last indefinitely.

 Download PDF

The Addenda

Real depth and self-sufficiency-level skill for whichever category you end up caring most about, once Tier 1 is solid everywhere else.

Coming soon

The Companion Book

Zero to Ready, restructured into one printed and downloadable reference: study it once to build real readiness, then keep it on the shelf to actually use, calmly or under real pressure, with no power or internet required. In production now.

Also see

Essential Reading Glossary

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