Reference Tool

Glossary

Real terms that show up more than once across this site, explained once, here, instead of assumed. Not exhaustive, just the vocabulary that's genuinely unfamiliar if you're not already coming from that field.

Site structure

Tier: The Manual's own four-stage framework (Tier 1 through Tier 4), organized by how long a disruption actually lasts, from an hours-long outage (Tier 1) through a self-sustaining community (Tier 4). See the Preparedness Matrix for the real trigger condition behind each tier.
Stage: The Addenda's own four-stage skill-progression framework (Stage 1: Foundations through Stage 4: Mastery & Teaching). Unlike Tiers, Stages aren't tied to a disaster's duration; you work through them at your own pace.
Addenda: Fifteen deep-dive skill curricula, one per Manual category, for building real, tested competency, not just owning the right gear.
Skill Guides: Seventy-seven standalone how-to guides, one core guide per category plus guides that go deeper, a lighter, faster layer than the Addenda.

Communication & radio

GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service): A licensed radio service, a low-cost license covering your whole household, no test required, with more power and real-world range than FRS.
FRS (Family Radio Service): The license-free radio service most consumer "walkie-talkie" two-way radios actually use. Real range is much shorter than the box usually claims.
HAM radio (Amateur Radio): A licensed radio service requiring a real exam, with far greater range and flexibility than GMRS or FRS, including reaching repeaters and other operators over long distances.
Repeater: A fixed station that receives a radio signal and rebroadcasts it at higher power from a high point, extending a handheld radio's real-world range well past what it could reach on its own.
NOAA Weather Radio: A dedicated broadcast service carrying continuous weather and emergency alerts. Needs a radio that actually receives the weather band; a regular AM/FM radio won't pick it up.

Medical & triage

START triage (Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment): A real, standardized method for quickly sorting multiple injured people by urgency, walking wounded, breathing, not breathing, using a fixed decision sequence instead of case-by-case judgment.
SAM splint: A lightweight, moldable splint (an aluminum core wrapped in foam) that can be hand-shaped to immobilize almost any injured limb.
CMIST: A real planning framework, Communication, Maintaining health, Independence, Support/safety, Transportation, for a household member's disability or functional need. Used because it's broader than "mobility" alone; Communication and Supervision needs are easy to overlook otherwise.
PFA (Psychological First Aid): A real, evidence-informed framework for supporting someone emotionally right after a crisis. Distinct from, and not a substitute for, formal mental health treatment.

Legal, insurance & water rights

Shall-issue: A concealed-carry licensing system where the issuing authority must grant a permit once an applicant meets the stated legal requirements; no separate, discretionary "need" has to be demonstrated.
May-issue (discretionary): A concealed-carry system where the issuing authority keeps real discretion to deny a permit even when an applicant meets the base requirements.
Permitless carry (constitutional carry): A system where eligible residents can legally carry concealed without any permit at all.
Prior appropriation: A water-rights doctrine, common across the western US, that runs on "first in time, first in right": the earliest legally established water right holds priority over later ones, regardless of who currently owns the land.
Riparian rights: A water-rights doctrine, common across the eastern US, where the right to use water is tied to owning land that touches the water source, not to which use was established first.
ALE (Additional Living Expenses): A real homeowner's or renter's insurance provision that reimburses the added cost of living elsewhere while a covered home is being repaired, usually capped at a specific dollar amount or percentage of the policy.

Documents & backups

3-2-1 backup rule: A real, standard data-backup practice: 3 total copies of anything important, on 2 different types of media, with 1 copy genuinely stored offsite.
Go-bag: A bag of essentials, documents, supplies, packed and kept ready in advance, so a household can leave quickly without last-minute packing. See the Go-Bags & 72-Hour Kits skill guide for what actually belongs in one.
72-hour kit: The term most familiar in Utah specifically for the same idea as a go-bag: a kit sized to get a household through the first few days of a disaster on its own. Named for the classic three-day baseline, though current guidance often extends that to five days or more.
Bug-out bag: A go-bag built for leaving home entirely and staying elsewhere for an extended period, typically bigger and more self-sufficient than a standard go-bag or 72-hour kit.
Get-home bag: A smaller kit kept in a vehicle or at work, sized only to get someone home from wherever they happen to be, not to shelter them once they arrive.

Community & governance

These come from The Act of Thriving, the companion manual about founding and sustaining a community past any single event.

Bonding capital: The strong, close-in ties inside a group, family and close membership, the first kind of social capital activated in a crisis.
Bridging capital: Ties reaching outward to other groups and communities. Less immediate than bonding capital, but real research finds it's what actually determines how sustainable a recovery is past the first hours.
Sociocracy (dynamic governance): A decision-making model that organizes a community into smaller working "circles" tied together by a coordinating circle, using consent (no reasoned objection) rather than full agreement on every decision.