I recently moved in to a new apartment. As I get set up, one of the things I've done is set up an emergency kit. Y'know, a box of things that might be useful in the case of something crazy like a nuke, biological attack, pandemic, or earthquake.

Honestly, I'm not sure how worthwhile it is to build one of these kits. It wasn't that time consuming or expensive and having it makes me feel a bit more at ease, so I just did it.

I didn't put much effort into it. I googled, prompted, skimmed through this LW post, and skimmed through some government resources. Despite being far from the most knowledgeable person here, I figure it still could be helpful to share what I've got. Largely in the spirit of discussion posts.

First, here's some pictures:

Ok, and here's a list of things that I have, in rough order of importance, along with some comments and links for purchasing.

• Water. If nuked the water supply likely wouldn't be safe, so water is needed. Biological attacks could also make the water unsafe, maybe even if boiled. It's also possible that there are natural disasters that make it hard to access water for some time. Plus some other scenarios.
• Plastic sheets. Useful for sealing my apartment off in the case of a nuclear attack.
• Duct tape. Used along with plastic sheets to seal apartment. Also notoriously handy to have around for various purposes.
• Portable radio. Useful for receiving communications from authorities about things like how long to shelter in place. It's possible that other communications are down and a radio is needed.
• Goggles, P100 mask. Biological attack? Volcano? I've had the P100 since Covid because I'm cool.
• First aid kid, bandages, gauze sponges, athletic tape. Useful if I'm hurt.
• Batteries, portable charger. Keeping my cell phone charged seems pretty important. The only thing in my box I'd need batteries for are the flash lights, which seem marginally useful, but then again, batteries seem like they could come in handy.
• Swiss army knife, flash lights. Not sure, but seems handy.
• Survival tabs. Unlike water, humans can go a long time without food. Then again, things like morale, energy and focus are important.
• Pen and paper. I dunno. Sharing notes with people? Taking important notes? Keep myself occupied?
• Matches. Not quite sure. Igniting gas stove?
• Whistle. Call for attention at a distance.
• Potassium iodide. To take if nuked. After digging a bit more closely the usefulness seems very marginal. Something about only protecting your thyroid and only protective against one isotope when in reality there's many isotopes. I dunno.
• Cash. Maybe there'd be some scenario where I want to buy something but credit cards don't work. Idk.
• Change of clothes. Meh. Could be nice to have as a morale boost. May as well.
• Maps. Maybe there'd be some sort of instructions from officials to relocate somewhere. Somewhere far. And my phone doesn't work. And... it's hard to really paint a picture where these maps would be useful, but it was quick and easy to print out.

Part of my calculus here is that some of these things are potentially useful in the case of non-emergencies as well.