What Is a Crisis
What is a crisis? Types, scale and how long they last
A crisis is any event that cuts you off from the services you rely on every day: power, water, shops, money, transport or help. Most last hours or days, not months.
Natural: earthquakes, floods, storms, heatwaves, wildfires, blizzards. Technical: blackouts, water or gas outages, chemical or nuclear accidents, cyber attacks on banks. Social: epidemics, conflict and air raids, economic crises. Personal: a house fire, an illness, losing your income.
The good news: the same preparation works for almost all of them. Water, food, light, a first aid kit, some cash, a family plan and a bag ready to go cover most of what any crisis throws at you.
Guides
- Emergency kit Start here: preparedness in 7 steps You don't need a bunker or a big budget. The seven steps that get any family ready for a few days without power, water or shops.
- Emergencies Bug in or bug out? How to decide between staying home (bugging in) and evacuating (bugging out): the advantages of each, 10 clear signs that you need to leave, and why leaving early matters.
- Emergencies Sirens, alerts and shelters How public warning systems work, why you should never turn off emergency alerts on your phone, how to find your nearest shelter and what to take with you.
- Emergencies Power outage (blackout) What stops working when the grid goes down, what to do in the first hours, how to keep the food in your fridge safe and how to get through several days without power, summer or winter.
- Emergencies What to do in an earthquake How to prepare your home for an earthquake, what to do in the seconds of shaking, why you shouldn't run for the stairs and what to check afterwards.
- Emergencies What to do in a flood Flood warnings, what to do if your home is in a flood zone, how to evacuate and what to check when you return. Advice for your home and for the road.
- Emergencies Air raid and drone alerts: taking shelter What to do when an air raid siren sounds or a phone alert warns of an aerial threat: the safest spot in an apartment, the two-wall rule, what to do outdoors or in a car, how to set up a shelter corner and what to do with drone debris.
- Health Checklist Pandemic preparedness Which supplies, medicines and protective items to keep at home for a flu epidemic or a pandemic, how to care for a sick person at home without the whole family getting ill, and how to avoid panic buying.
- Money Preparing for an economic crisis Inflation, rising prices, layoffs, higher loan payments. Ten things you can do now so your family gets through hard economic times more easily.
- Home Security in a crisis How to protect your family in a crisis: meeting points and a communication plan, how to check information and avoid panic, how to protect your data, money and home, plus a checklist.
- Health Stress and anxiety in a crisis Normal stress reactions after an earthquake, flood, pandemic or conflict, simple techniques that help right away, how to support others, when to seek professional help and free support lines.