The 6 Areas of Emergency Preparedness

Let’s face it: the world is a crazy, unpredictable place right now.

Ever since COVID came onto the scene just 4 (short?) years ago, we’ve been adjusting to the “new normal,” and part of that new normal involves coming to terms with the fact that we’re living in world where any number of existential crises could become reality at any moment.

From another pandemic or an economic collapse to nuclear war or civil unrest—and everything imaginable in between—we are living in the age of the “polycrisis,” as our friends *cough* over at the World Economic Forum have so aptly called it.

So how do you prepare for a polycrisis (or any crisis, for that matter)? You start by breaking the very complex and sometimes intimidating topic of emergency preparedness (aka. “prepping”) into 6 main areas of preparedness, and then you work to prepare as best as possible in each of these areas.

In this article, we’ll break down the 6 areas of preparedness that everyone should be considering and working to incorporate into their own unique emergency preparedness plan.

The 6 Areas of Preparedness

1. Water

Water is arguably the most essential part of any emergency preparedness plan, although it often tends to get overlooked as while food and protection hog the limelight. But the reality is that, aside from oxygen, water is the most essential element to human life. We can only survive without drinking water for about 3 days, which is significantly less time than one can survive without food or shelter!

Furthermore, water is necessary not just for drinking, but also for hygiene and sanitation, washing dishes, and watering gardens. Drinking water also needs to be provided for any pets and livestock.

While it’s almost impossible to store all of the water that you could potentially need in an extended emergency situation, it is crucial to ensure that you have at least a few days of drinking water on hand at the very least. On top of that, you may also want to consider learning how to treat questionable water sources to make them safe for drinking, and know where to access additional fresh water nearby if needed (streams, rivers, lakes, etc.).

For a more in-depth information on water preparedness, be sure to check out The Ultimate Guide to Emergency Water Preparedness.

2. Food

How much food should you have on hand? Well, if you’re already living a homesteading lifestyle, you likely have at least some preserved food on hand, but it’s always important to ensure that you have at least 3 days worth of food stored at a bare minimum; 2-3 weeks is better. Several months is better still. Eventually, you might even choose to keep an entire year’s supply of food on hand for you and your family. The topic of food storage becomes increasingly important for those living in rural areas, as their ability to access resources may be even more impacted than those in a more urban area.

Several different factors can influence your ability to store food, including but not limited to your personal situation, your budget, your storage space, and your family size. If you’re limited by any of these factors (and let’s be honest – who isn’t?) then consider how you could obtain additional food if your supplies ran out. Could you grow it? Forage it? Hunt it? Do you have the skills to preserve it?

When it comes to long-term food storage, staples like rice and beans are always a good start, but you also want to think about the kinds of food that your family actually likes to eat. It’s also critical to consider nutrition, especially in a long-term emergency situation. Storing a variety of fruits, veggies, and meats for protein is crucial for getting your micro and macronutrients.

Consider storing and preserving your food in a variety of shelf-stable ways, such as by canning, dehydrating, freeze drying, or root cellaring. This way, if the power goes out or the grid goes down, you’ll still have food to eat.

3. Sanitation & Hygiene

We don’t tend to think about sanitation and hygiene as an area of emergency preparedness, and it might not be in a very short-term situation, but it’s something we absolutely need to consider in our overall preparedness plan. After all, we all remember the “Great Toilet Paper Panic of 2020,” right?

What happens if the toilets don’t flush, or the garbage truck doesn’t come for pickup? What if you are unable to wash your hands or do your laundry or your dishes? Knowing how to deal with waste and sanitation and keep things hygienic even in an emergency or grid-down situation is incredibly important to you if you ever find yourself in a prolonged emergency situation and need to consider things like sanitation and disease control.

4. Security & Protection

We all hope that we never need to worry about personal security and protection when it comes to preparedness, but the unfortunate reality is that often there is panic during wide-spread disasters, especially here in the west where we aren’t used to any sort of discomfort or upheaval in our daily lives. Be sure to consider a plan for how you would protect your family and your home if you couldn’t rely on the police, or if help didn’t arrive fast enough. Rural residents likely already have a bit of this in place, or at the very least it’s probably more front-of-mind, but don’t overlook these areas of preparedness even if you live in an urban area.

While most people think of firearms when they think of personal protection, this may also includes things like making sure you’ve got extra locks installed on doors, enforcing the perimeter of your property or perhaps getting a guard dog or two, or carrying pepper spray at all times, just in case.

5. Shelter

Even with a house to live in and a roof over your head, you need to make additional shelter considerations for emergency situations. Consider how you would heat and cool your home, provide lighting, and cook during a power outage. Maintaining the ability for your home to function more or less as normal in an emergency is almost as important as important as the four walls and a roof that it provides.

It’s also critical to consider your evacuation plans in case you needed to leave your home. Do you have a safe location chosen, and do you know what you need to bring with you? Do you have your bug-out bags packed and ready to go? What about important documents and essential contact information? Where are all of those things located, and how much time would it take you to get them together in a SHTF situation?

For more information on what you should have packed and ready to go, check out this article on 15 Emergency Preparedness Items for Bugging Out.

6. Medical & First Aid

In an emergency situation, you may not be able to access a doctor, a hospital, or other healthcare facilities. As a result, having some medical and first-aid knowledge as well as supplies on hand is essential. It might also be worth developing some basic herbal medicine knowledge and having a well-stocked herbal apothecary to further expand your skillset.

Ensure that you have extras of any necessary prescriptions on hand, as well as a fully-stocked first aid kit, a robust supply of over the counter medications, and a good medical reference book.

If your household contains older adults who rely on consistent medical services or medical equipment, this also needs to be considered in your emergency preparedness plans. While you may not be able to convince your doctor to prescribe you extra medication “in case of an emergency,” you can get emergency prescription medication and antibiotics from Jase Medical. We keep an emergency supply of antibiotics in our “Jase Case” just in case we need them and are unable to access a doctor or pharmacist.

BONUS: Money & Trade

While we all wish we could be entirely self-reliant, the realists among us know that’s pretty much impossible in today’s society. Having some cash easily available in case you can’t access the bank or internet is always a good idea. You could even consider keeping some small amounts of precious metals (ie. silver coins) or tradable goods (coffee, alcohol, etc.) on hand for bartering.

Final Thoughts

While there’s still a stigma that “preppers” are all tinfoil-hat wearing, bunker-dwelling nut jobs, I personally think that anyone who is not preparing even a little bit right now is the crazy one, especially knowing all that we know and having experienced all that we’ve experienced over the past few years.

Just because times are relatively good right this moment doesn’t mean they always will be. As the saying goes, “it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” And if biblical prophecies aren’t your thing, then as the other very practical saying goes, “it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

A the end of the day, that’s really what preparedness is: a practical step that everyone should be taking to ensure they are ready for whatever life throws at them, whether it be a personal challenge like a job loss or unexpected health issue, or a large-scale natural disaster, pandemic, or conflict.

Prepping is simply a form of insurance that acts as a safety net in the event of an emergency, except unlike insurance, your “preps” will be close at hand when you need them and you won’t have to fight with your insurance company in order to gain access to what is rightfully yours.

Taking a few simple steps to ensure the comfort, safety, and preparedness of your family is never a bad idea. The worst thing that could happen is that nothing happens at all, and you can use up your preps before they expire on a fun camping trip or something, which is better than the return on the insurance that you pay for but never use!

The most important thing is that you get started. Do what you can where you’re at with whatever you’ve got. Work on getting your house in order, even if you can only do a little bit. Anything is better than nothing when it comes to being prepared, and when disaster strikes, you’ll thank yourself for having had the foresight to plan ahead.

What do you do to ensure the preparedness of your family? Is there anything I forgot to mention? Let me know in the comments below!