How to Make a 72-Hour Family Emergency Plan

Most families mean to do this. The obstacle is almost never caring, and it is usually not money either.

If your family had to leave home in ten minutes tonight, would everyone know where to meet?

By the end of this guide, the answer will be yes. The rest of the plan you can finish this weekend.

Why 72 Hours Is the Starting Number

Seventy-two hours is the floor that every major source agrees on, which is what makes it the right first milestone.

Ready.gov, FEMA's preparedness campaign, recommends supplies for several days with at least a three-day minimum. The Red Cross recommends a three-day supply for evacuation and a two-week supply at home. So three days is where you start, and two weeks at home is where you grow.

Those first three days are the ones that matter most. Roads may be closed, stores may be shut, power may be out, and emergency services will be stretched. A plan made in advance is what turns that stretch from a crisis into an inconvenience.

Step 1: Know Your Risks

Before you can prepare, you need to know what you are preparing for. Start by naming the two or three emergencies most likely where you live.

• Gulf Coast and Southeast: hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes
• Midwest: tornadoes, severe winter storms, flooding
• Mountain West: wildfires, winter storms, power outages
• Northeast and Mid-Atlantic: nor'easters, hurricanes, flooding, extended power outages
• Pacific Coast: earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires
• Everywhere: power outages, house fires, medical emergencies

Look up your area's highest-risk scenarios at Ready.gov, then build your plan around the likely ones first rather than the dramatic ones.

Step 2: Build Your Emergency Kit

Your kit is the physical foundation of the plan. A complete 72-hour household kit covers seven categories:

• Water: one gallon per person per day, for drinking and sanitation
• Food: non-perishable, requiring no cooking or refrigeration
• First aid: supplies, plus a seven-day supply of everyone's prescription medications, which is the Red Cross standard
• Light and communication: flashlights, a weather radio, backup phone power
• Shelter and warmth: emergency blankets, a change of clothes, sturdy shoes
• Tools and documents: a whistle, a multi-tool, copies of IDs and insurance, and phone numbers written on paper
• Hygiene and sanitation: the category families most often overlook

Exact quantities, the full document list, and a printable check-it-off version are all in our free 72-Hour Family Emergency Plan. Download it from the Free Checklists Hub and you can build your kit this weekend.

Prefer it done for you? Kits like our Guardian Go Bag and RapidShield are packed to the 72-hour standard, with US Coast Guard approved food rations and water pouches included and no assembly required. Browse household kits.

Step 3: Make Your Family Communication Plan

Every member of your household needs to know four things.

1. An out-of-town contact. Pick one relative or close friend outside your area. The reason is not that long-distance calls connect more easily, which is an old myth. It is that someone outside the affected area is not dealing with the same outage, can act as a single hub everyone checks in with, and stays reachable when local systems are degraded. Text messages also tend to get through when voice calls will not. Make sure every family member has the number written down, not only saved in a phone, and pick a backup contact too. One person can be unreachable.
2. A meeting place near your home. If you have to get out quickly, where does everyone gather? Pick something specific: a neighbor's mailbox, the end of the street, a particular tree. Everyone should be able to name it without thinking.
3. A meeting place outside your neighborhood. If you cannot get back to your own street, where do you meet? A school, church, or community center works well. Let the kids help choose both spots; they remember places they picked themselves.
4. What to do if you get separated. Children especially need to know who to call, where to go, and which trusted adults they can ask for help.

One more thing worth deciding: who checks in first, and how often. This is the part families skip, and it is where things get tangled. Without an agreed order, everyone waits to see whether someone else already called.

Write all four down. Keep one copy in your kit and one in each family member's backpack or bag.

Step 4: Plan Your Evacuation Routes

Identify at least two ways out of your neighborhood, heading in different directions. Road closures routinely make the obvious route impassable, so the backup is the whole point.

While you are at it, find and write down:

• Your nearest emergency shelter, listed on your county's emergency management website
• At least two pet-friendly hotels along each route
• Your nearest hospital and urgent care
• Your children's school's emergency release policy

Keep a paper map in your car and one in your kit. GPS needs a signal and a charged battery. A paper map needs neither.

Step 5: Plan for Everyone in Your Household

Children. Giving a child a specific job in the plan gives them something to do with their hands and their attention, which is worth a great deal in an unfamiliar situation. Walk them through the plan in age-appropriate terms, and let them carry their own bag.

Older adults and family members with medical needs. Keep a seven-day supply of prescription medications in the kit, along with a written list of medications, dosages, and prescribing physicians. For older adults specifically, the Red Cross recommends at least a thirty-day supply. If anyone relies on equipment that needs power, decide now what happens during an extended outage.

Pets. Pets need their own food, water, and medications. It helps to know what the law actually does here: the PETS Act requires state and local emergency plans to account for people with household pets as a condition of federal funding, and it lets FEMA fund pet-friendly shelters, but it does not require every shelter to take animals. Where pet-friendly sheltering exists, you are generally expected to bring your own crate, food, and proof of vaccination. So identify your pet-friendly options in advance, and keep vaccination records and a current photo with your emergency documents. A packed pet kit covers the supplies side of that in one step.

Step 6: Store and Maintain Your Kit

Choose a spot every adult in the house knows and can reach quickly, such as a hallway closet, the garage, or under a bed. Avoid anywhere that could become inaccessible, like a basement that floods.

US Coast Guard approved food rations and water pouches carry a five-year shelf life, so they will not need rotating for a while. The twice-a-year check still matters for medications, documents, and batteries. Here is how often to check or refresh your kit.

Step 7: Practice

A plan nobody has practiced is a plan that comes apart under pressure. Once a year, walk your family through it. Time how long it takes to grab the kit and get out the door. Run the communication plan with your kids, confirm your out-of-town contact knows they are your contact, and drive both evacuation routes once so they feel familiar.

The goal is not to spend more time thinking about emergencies. It is to spend less, because the thinking is already done.

You Are Closer Than You Think

In FEMA's 2024 survey, 83% of Americans reported taking at least three preparedness actions in the past year. Most families are further along than they give themselves credit for. The ones who finish the job are simply the ones who kept it simple.

The simplest starting point is a kit that is already packed. Guardian Go Bag and RapidShield are built to the 72-hour standard with US Coast Guard approved food and water included, ready to grab. Add your communication plan and your two routes around it, and the plan is done.

Fifteen minutes. That is the whole ask.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should a family emergency plan cover?

Start at 72 hours. Ready.gov, FEMA's preparedness campaign, recommends supplies for several days with at least a three-day minimum, and the Red Cross recommends a three-day supply for evacuation and a two-week supply at home. Three days is the floor everyone agrees on and the right first milestone. Two weeks at home is what to grow toward.

Why do I need an out-of-town emergency contact?

Because someone outside the affected area is not dealing with the same outage and can serve as a single hub that every family member checks in with. The older idea that long-distance calls connect more easily during an emergency is a myth. What is true is that text messages often get through when voice calls do not, and that a contact outside your area stays reachable when local systems are degraded.

How much water does my family need for 72 hours?

One gallon per person per day, for drinking and sanitation. A family of four needs 12 gallons to cover three days. If you are working toward the Red Cross two-week home standard, that same family needs 56 gallons.

Do emergency shelters accept pets?

Some do and some do not. The PETS Act requires state and local emergency plans to account for people with household pets as a condition of federal funding, and it allows FEMA to fund pet-friendly shelters, but it does not require every shelter to take animals. Where pet-friendly sheltering is available, you are generally expected to bring your own crate, food, and proof of vaccination. Identify your options before you need them.

Know another family who keeps meaning to get around to this? Send them this guide. Fifteen minutes is all it takes to have a plan.

Sources: FEMA 2024 National Household Survey on Disaster Preparedness. Ready.gov, FEMA's preparedness campaign, Build a Kit. American Red Cross survival kit supplies. Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2006.