Household Emergency Plan & Go-Bag

Write down, while everything is calm, the handful of things a household cannot work out in the middle of a fire, a flood, a power cut lasting days or an order to leave: where we meet, who we all ring, where the shut-offs are, and what is in the bag. Almost nobody has this written down, and nobody thinks clearly enough to invent it on the night. You fill in two meeting points — one just outside the home and one outside the neighbourhood, because you cannot always get back — one out-of-area contact everybody calls to check in, and where your water stop-tap, gas valve and consumer unit are; you get back a printable plan, a pocket contact card for every person in the house (children and anybody without a phone especially need one on paper), a go-bag checklist with quantities scaled from the household you described, a document checklist, and a review-date line. Be clear about what this is not. It tells you nothing about what may happen where you live and never will — it writes down your household's own decisions. It records where the shut-offs are and gives no instruction for operating any of them, because doing that wrong is dangerous and the correct handling differs by country, by supply and by installation; that belongs with your utility provider. It names no agency, no programme and no emergency telephone number, because those differ by country and change, and a wrong number on a card a child is carrying is worse than no card. The days of supplies is your field with a stated default, not a rule, and the per-person-per-day basis behind every quantity is printed in full beside the arithmetic so you can change it. Everything runs on your device, offline; nothing you type leaves it.

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Worked example

Household Emergency Plan & Go-Bag The Ruiz household — 12 Ash Road Fill this in, print it, and put it where somebody who is not thinking clearly can find it. Nobody looks anything up when it is actually happening — they do whatever was already written down. WHAT THIS IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT - This sheet writes down what your household decided. It says nothing about what may happen where you live, rates nothing, predicts nothing and has no opinion about your home. - The utility page records LOCATIONS only. It gives no instruction for operating a gas valve, a consumer unit or a water heater, because doing that wrong is dangerous and the correct handling differs by country, by supply and by installation. Follow your own utility provider's guidance for your own supply. - No agency, programme, hotline or emergency telephone number is printed here. Those differ by country and change, and a wrong number on a card a child is carrying is worse than no card at all. Write your own local numbers on the lines provided, from a source you trust, and check them on the review date. - The days figure is your field, not a rule. The per-person-per-day basis used for the arithmetic is printed in full so you can disagree with it and change it. Local guidance on this varies from place to place. - Nothing here is medical, structural, electrical or gas advice, and none of it is a substitute for your local emergency services or your utility provider. 1. MEETING POINTS Two, because you cannot always get back. The first is a spot just outside the home that everyone can reach in seconds without going back inside for anything — the end of the drive, the lamp post, the tree across the road. The second is somewhere outside the neighbourhood entirely, for when the street is closed or nobody is being let back in: a relative's house, a library, a supermarket car park. Pick places that are open, obvious and easy to describe to a child, and walk to both of them once with everybody, because a meeting point nobody has ever stood in is a line of text and not a plan. Just outside the home Where ......... The big oak across the road, by the postbox How we get there from every door .... ____________________________________________________ Outside the neighbourhood Where ......... Northbrook library car park, Ellis Row entrance How we get there without a car ..... ____________________________________________________ Who collects the children, and from where ____________________________________________________ Who brings the pets ____________________________________________________ 2. THE OUT-OF-AREA CONTACT One person, well outside your local area, whom everyone in the household calls to say where they are and that they are all right. Local networks jam when a lot of people in one place all try at once, and a call or a message out of the area often gets through when a call across the street does not. It also gives everyone one number to remember instead of five, and it means nobody is waiting to hear from somebody who is already fine and cannot get a call through. Ask them first, tell them what you are asking of them, and give them a copy of this sheet. Name .......... Rosa Ruiz Who they are .. Ana's sister, four hours away mobile ........ 555-0201 landline ...... 555-0202 How to reach them rosa@example.invalid How to reach them 4 Ellis Row, Northbrook They have a copy of this plan .... yes / not yet They know we are asking this of them .... yes / not yet 3. POCKET CONTACT CARDS (4 card(s)) One card per person, small enough to live in a pocket, a school bag, a wallet or a phone case. Everyone needs one, and the people who need one most are the ones without a phone: children, anybody whose phone is flat, anybody who cannot get to their phone. A number stored only in a handset is a number you do not have when the handset is gone. CARD 1 Name .......... Ana Ruiz Their number .. 555-0142 Home address .. ______________________ Out of area ... Rosa Ruiz — 555-0201 Home: 555-0140 Ana mobile: 555-0142 Meet at ....... The big oak across the road, by the postbox Local emergency number, written by hand ... ____________ CARD 2 Name .......... Sam Ruiz Their number .. 555-0143 Home address .. ______________________ Out of area ... Rosa Ruiz — 555-0201 Home: 555-0140 Ana mobile: 555-0142 Meet at ....... The big oak across the road, by the postbox Local emergency number, written by hand ... ____________ CARD 3 Name .......... Mia Ruiz Their number .. no phone yet Home address .. ______________________ Out of area ... Rosa Ruiz — 555-0201 Home: 555-0140 Ana mobile: 555-0142 Note .......... carries an inhaler in the side pocket Meet at ....... The big oak across the road, by the postbox Local emergency number, written by hand ... ____________ CARD 4 Name .......... Theo Ruiz Their number .. no phone Home address .. ______________________ Out of area ... Rosa Ruiz — 555-0201 Home: 555-0140 Ana mobile: 555-0142 Note .......... 18 months old Meet at ....... The big oak across the road, by the postbox Local emergency number, written by hand ... ____________ The medical note on a card is whatever that person chose to put there, and nothing else. Nobody has to carry one. Anybody who does carry one wrote it themselves, or somebody wrote it for them at their asking — a card is a thing strangers read, so what goes on it is theirs to decide. 4. WHERE THE SHUT-OFFS ARE KNOW WHERE THEY ARE. DO NOT LEARN TO OPERATE THEM FROM A SHEET OF PAPER. This page records where things are and what tool is kept with them, and nothing else. Handling any of these wrongly is dangerous, and the correct handling differs by country, by supply and by installation, so the only sound source is your own utility provider's guidance for your own supply. If something smells wrong or looks wrong, get everybody out first and call your local emergency services and your utility provider from outside the building. Water stop-tap Where: under the kitchen sink, right at the back Tool: stop-tap key hangs on the hook inside the cupboard door Gas valve Where: in the meter box on the outside wall, left of the front door Tool: locations only — follow the utility provider's own guidance Consumer unit / breaker box Where: hall cupboard, top shelf Tool: torch clipped inside the door Outside tap Where: by the back step Tool: ______________________ Take a photograph of each one and keep it with the plan. Somebody looking for a stop-tap by torchlight, on their own, does far better with a picture than with a sentence. 5. THE GO-BAG THE BASIS THESE QUANTITIES CAME FROM — change it if it is wrong Drinking water ....... 3 L per person per day Ready-to-eat meals ... 3 per person per day (adults and children) Infant feeds ......... 6 per infant per day Nappies .............. 6 per infant per day Water for pets ....... 1 L per pet per day Pet meals ............ 2 per pet per day Sanitation bags ...... 3 per person per day Power banks .......... 1 per 2 people, rounded up Battery sets ......... 2 per torch Days covered ......... 3 (your field, not a rule) Those per-person-per-day figures are this tool's own stated defaults. They were chosen to be round, easy to check and easy to argue with, and they are not a standard, not a requirement and not anybody's official guidance. Local guidance on quantities and on how many days to cover varies from place to place; use whatever your own household and your own local guidance say, change the days field, and every number below follows the arithmetic. Scaled for: 2 adult(s), 2 child(ren), 1 infant(s), 1 pet(s), over 3 day(s). 1 person(s) using a mobility aid, 1 depending on daily medicine. WATER AND FOOD [ ] Drinking water, in containers you can actually carry — 45 L [ ] Food that is ready to eat with no cooking and no power — 36 meals [ ] A tin opener that needs no power — 1 item · the single most forgotten thing on any list of this kind [ ] Infant feeds, made up the way that infant takes them — 18 feeds [ ] Bottles, cups or beakers for the infant — 2 items WHAT PARTICULAR PEOPLE CANNOT DO WITHOUT [ ] A written list per person of what they take, copied exactly off the label, with the name of whoever supplies it — 1 copies · the list is the thing this sheet can help with; anything about the medicines themselves is a question for whoever supplies them [ ] Spare power, battery or charger for each powered mobility aid — 1 sets · the charger lives with the bag, not by the bed, or it gets left behind [ ] A written note of what each person needs help with and how they like it done — 1 copies · written by that person where they can write it themselves [ ] Glasses, hearing-aid batteries, and anything else somebody cannot manage a day without · add your own lines here — this list cannot know them CHILDREN AND INFANTS [ ] Nappies — 18 nappies [ ] Packs of wipes — 1 packs [ ] A comfort item chosen by the child, not by an adult — 2 items · let them pick it and let them pack it [ ] Something to do that needs no screen and no power — 2 packs · a pack of cards, a small book, paper and a pencil [ ] A change of clothes per child — 2 sets PETS [ ] Water for the pets — 3 L [ ] Pet food — 6 meals [ ] Lead, harness or carrier, and a photograph of you together with the pet — 1 sets · the photograph is how you prove the pet is yours if you are separated POWER, LIGHT AND WARMTH [ ] Torch — 5 torches · one each, so nobody is waiting in the dark for somebody else's [ ] Spare battery sets for the torches — 10 sets [ ] Power bank, charged — 3 banks · a power bank that has sat flat in a drawer for a year is a brick; charge it on the review date [ ] Charging cable for each phone in the house — 4 cables [ ] A warm layer or an emergency blanket per person — 5 blankets [ ] Whistle — 5 whistles · a child can blow a whistle for far longer than a child can shout KEEPING CLEAN [ ] Sanitation bags — 45 bags [ ] Toilet roll — 4 rolls [ ] Soap or hand gel — 1 item [ ] A change of clothes per person — 5 sets DOCUMENTS, KEYS AND MONEY [ ] The sealed copy of the document pack listed further down — 1 pack · a second copy goes to the out-of-area contact [ ] Spare key set for the house and for the car — 2 sets · one per adult, because the one who is home may not be the one with keys [ ] Cash in small notes and coins — an amount your household decides · card machines and cash machines both depend on power and on a network [ ] This printed plan, and a pen · the plan is no use in a drawer at home; a copy lives in the bag 6. DOCUMENTS — what to have copies of [ ] Photo ID for every person [ ] Birth and marriage certificates [ ] Passports, visas, residence documents [ ] Insurance policies — home, contents, car, travel, pet [ ] The deeds, the mortgage or the tenancy agreement [ ] Bank and card details, and any account you would need to reach [ ] The medicines list for each person who has one [ ] Vaccination and microchip papers for the pets [ ] Recent photographs of every person and every pet [ ] Photographs or a video of each room, for insurance [ ] A copy of this plan Where the copies live - One paper set, in a sealed waterproof wallet, in the go-bag. - One set with the out-of-area contact, refreshed on the review date. - One encrypted digital copy somewhere you can reach from any device — and write down how to get into it, because a password only you remember is a password nobody else can use. 7. REVIEW DATE A plan written once and never looked at again goes quietly stale: numbers change, people move, children outgrow the clothes in the bag, the food goes out of date and the power bank sits flat in a drawer. Put a date on it. This tool has no clock and cannot fill that date in for you, which is why it is a line you write. Pick something you will not forget — a birthday, a clock change, the start of a school year — and on that day walk the meeting points again, ring the out-of-area contact, and check the bag. We review this on .... the first Saturday of every September Last reviewed ........ ______________________ Who is responsible ... ______________________ On the review day: [ ] every number on every card still works [ ] the out-of-area contact still agrees, and still lives there [ ] the food and water are still in date [ ] the children's clothes in the bag still fit [ ] the power bank and the torch batteries are charged [ ] we walked to both meeting points POCKET CARDS: 4 card(s) on 1 page(s), 8 to a page Save each page as its own .svg and print it at 100% — never "fit to page". Cut on the outlines, fill in the address by hand, and write your own local emergency number on the bottom line from a source you trust. ----- CARD PAGE 1 of 1 ----- <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 612.0 792.0" width="612.0pt" height="792.0pt" font-family="system-ui,sans-serif"> <rect width="612.0" height="792.0" fill="#ffffff"/> <rect class="card" x="36.0" y="36.0" width="252.0" height="144.0" rx="8" fill="#ffffff" stroke="#333333" stroke-width="1.5"/> <text class="name" x="46.0" y="54.0" font-size="13.0" font-weight="800" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Ana Ruiz</text> <text class="own" x="46.0" y="66.0" font-size="8.0" font-weight="400" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">555-0142</text> <text class="cap" x="46.0" y="80.0" font-size="6.5" font-weight="600" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">HOME ADDRESS</text> <line class="rule" x1="46.0" y1="90.0" x2="278.0" y2="90.0" stroke="#9a9a9a" stroke-width="1.0" stroke-dasharray="5 4"/> <line class="rule" x1="46.0" y1="102.0" x2="278.0" y2="102.0" stroke="#9a9a9a" stroke-width="1.0" stroke-dasharray="5 4"/> <text class="cap" x="46.0" y="116.0" font-size="6.5" font-weight="600" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">CALL THIS PERSON FIRST — THEY ARE OUT OF THE AREA</text> <text class="contact" x="46.0" y="127.0" font-size="9.5" font-weight="700" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Rosa Ruiz</text> <text class="contactnum" x="46.0" y="138.0" font-size="9.0" font-weight="700" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">555-0201</text> <text class="num" x="46.0" y="150.0" font-size="7.5" font-weight="400" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Home: 555-0140</text> <text class="num" x="46.0" y="159.0" font-size="7.5" font-weight="400" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Ana mobile: 555-0142</text> <text class="meet" x="46.0" y="164.0" font-size="6.5" font-weight="400" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">Meet at: The big oak across the road, by the postbox</text> <text class="foot" x="46.0" y="166.0" font-size="6.0" font-weight="400" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">In an emergency, call your local emergency services.</text> <text class="foot" x="46.0" y="174.0" font-size="6.0" font-weight="400" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">Local emergency number: ____________</text> <rect class="card" x="306.0" y="36.0" width="252.0" height="144.0" rx="8" fill="#ffffff" stroke="#333333" stroke-width="1.5"/> <text class="name" x="316.0" y="54.0" font-size="13.0" font-weight="800" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Sam Ruiz</text> <text class="own" x="316.0" y="66.0" font-size="8.0" font-weight="400" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">555-0143</text> <text class="cap" x="316.0" y="80.0" font-size="6.5" font-weight="600" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">HOME ADDRESS</text> <line class="rule" x1="316.0" y1="90.0" x2="548.0" y2="90.0" stroke="#9a9a9a" stroke-width="1.0" stroke-dasharray="5 4"/> <line class="rule" x1="316.0" y1="102.0" x2="548.0" y2="102.0" stroke="#9a9a9a" stroke-width="1.0" stroke-dasharray="5 4"/> <text class="cap" x="316.0" y="116.0" font-size="6.5" font-weight="600" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">CALL THIS PERSON FIRST — THEY ARE OUT OF THE AREA</text> <text class="contact" x="316.0" y="127.0" font-size="9.5" font-weight="700" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Rosa Ruiz</text> <text class="contactnum" x="316.0" y="138.0" font-size="9.0" font-weight="700" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">555-0201</text> <text class="num" x="316.0" y="150.0" font-size="7.5" font-weight="400" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Home: 555-0140</text> <text class="num" x="316.0" y="159.0" font-size="7.5" font-weight="400" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Ana mobile: 555-0142</text> <text class="meet" x="316.0" y="164.0" font-size="6.5" font-weight="400" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">Meet at: The big oak across the road, by the postbox</text> <text class="foot" x="316.0" y="166.0" font-size="6.0" font-weight="400" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">In an emergency, call your local emergency services.</text> <text class="foot" x="316.0" y="174.0" font-size="6.0" font-weight="400" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">Local emergency number: ____________</text> <rect class="card" x="36.0" y="198.0" width="252.0" height="144.0" rx="8" fill="#ffffff" stroke="#333333" stroke-width="1.5"/> <text class="name" x="46.0" y="216.0" font-size="13.0" font-weight="800" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Mia Ruiz</text> <text class="own" x="46.0" y="228.0" font-size="8.0" font-weight="400" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">no phone yet</text> <text class="cap" x="46.0" y="242.0" font-size="6.5" font-weight="600" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">HOME ADDRESS</text> <line class="rule" x1="46.0" y1="252.0" x2="278.0" y2="252.0" stroke="#9a9a9a" stroke-width="1.0" stroke-dasharray="5 4"/> <line class="rule" x1="46.0" y1="264.0" x2="278.0" y2="264.0" stroke="#9a9a9a" stroke-width="1.0" stroke-dasharray="5 4"/> <text class="cap" x="46.0" y="278.0" font-size="6.5" font-weight="600" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">CALL THIS PERSON FIRST — THEY ARE OUT OF THE AREA</text> <text class="contact" x="46.0" y="289.0" font-size="9.5" font-weight="700" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Rosa Ruiz</text> <text class="contactnum" x="46.0" y="300.0" font-size="9.0" font-weight="700" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">555-0201</text> <text class="num" x="46.0" y="312.0" font-size="7.5" font-weight="400" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Home: 555-0140</text> <text class="num" x="46.0" y="321.0" font-size="7.5" font-weight="400" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Ana mobile: 555-0142</text> <text class="note" x="46.0" y="330.0" font-size="7.0" font-weight="600" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">carries an inhaler in the side pocket</text> <text class="meet" x="46.0" y="326.0" font-size="6.5" font-weight="400" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">Meet at: The big oak across the road, by the postbox</text> <text class="foot" x="46.0" y="328.0" font-size="6.0" font-weight="400" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">In an emergency, call your local emergency services.</text> <text class="foot" x="46.0" y="336.0" font-size="6.0" font-weight="400" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">Local emergency number: ____________</text> <rect class="card" x="306.0" y="198.0" width="252.0" height="144.0" rx="8" fill="#ffffff" stroke="#333333" stroke-width="1.5"/> <text class="name" x="316.0" y="216.0" font-size="13.0" font-weight="800" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Theo Ruiz</text> <text class="own" x="316.0" y="228.0" font-size="8.0" font-weight="400" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">no phone</text> <text class="cap" x="316.0" y="242.0" font-size="6.5" font-weight="600" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">HOME ADDRESS</text> <line class="rule" x1="316.0" y1="252.0" x2="548.0" y2="252.0" stroke="#9a9a9a" stroke-width="1.0" stroke-dasharray="5 4"/> <line class="rule" x1="316.0" y1="264.0" x2="548.0" y2="264.0" stroke="#9a9a9a" stroke-width="1.0" stroke-dasharray="5 4"/> <text class="cap" x="316.0" y="278.0" font-size="6.5" font-weight="600" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">CALL THIS PERSON FIRST — THEY ARE OUT OF THE AREA</text> <text class="contact" x="316.0" y="289.0" font-size="9.5" font-weight="700" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Rosa Ruiz</text> <text class="contactnum" x="316.0" y="300.0" font-size="9.0" font-weight="700" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">555-0201</text> <text class="num" x="316.0" y="312.0" font-size="7.5" font-weight="400" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Home: 555-0140</text> <text class="num" x="316.0" y="321.0" font-size="7.5" font-weight="400" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">Ana mobile: 555-0142</text> <text class="note" x="316.0" y="330.0" font-size="7.0" font-weight="600" fill="#000000" text-anchor="start">18 months old</text> <text class="meet" x="316.0" y="326.0" font-size="6.5" font-weight="400" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">Meet at: The big oak across the road, by the postbox</text> <text class="foot" x="316.0" y="328.0" font-size="6.0" font-weight="400" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">In an emergency, call your local emergency services.</text> <text class="foot" x="316.0" y="336.0" font-size="6.0" font-weight="400" fill="#8a8a8a" text-anchor="start">Local emergency number: ____________</text> </svg> Print it, fill it in by hand, and put it somewhere findable: inside a kitchen cupboard door, by the meter, with the passports. Give a copy to the out-of-area contact, put one in the go-bag, and make sure every person in the house has been told where it is. Then walk to both meeting points with everybody, once. That walk is the part that turns this from a sheet of paper into something your household actually knows.

Learn the method

Inputs

Sheet label (which household, which address)
The Ruiz household — 12 Ash Road
Print
Everything / Plan sheet only / Pocket cards only / Go-bag checklist only
Household members — one per line: name | their number | note for their card
Ana Ruiz | 555-0142 | Sam Ruiz | 555-0143 | Mia Ruiz | no phone yet | carries an inhaler in the side pocket Theo Ruiz | no phone | 18 months old
Numbers to print on every card — one per line: label | number
Home | 555-0140 Ana mobile | 555-0142 School office | 555-0177 Vet | 555-0188
Out-of-area contact: name | who they are | every way to reach them
Rosa Ruiz | Ana's sister, four hours away | mobile 555-0201 | landline 555-0202 | rosa@example.invalid | 4 Ellis Row, Northbrook
Meeting point just outside the home
The big oak across the road, by the postbox
Meeting point outside the neighbourhood
Northbrook library car park, Ellis Row entrance
Utility locations — one per line: what | where it is | what tool is kept with it
Water stop-tap | under the kitchen sink, right at the back | stop-tap key hangs on the hook inside the cupboard door Gas valve | in the meter box on the outside wall, left of the front door | locations only — follow the utility provider's own guidance Consumer unit / breaker box | hall cupboard, top shelf | torch clipped inside the door Outside tap | by the back step |
Adults
2
Children
2
Infants
1
Pets
1
People who use a mobility aid or need help moving
1
People who depend on medicine every day
1
Days of supplies to scale the bag to
3
Review date — you write it, this tool has no clock
the first Saturday of every September

Frequently asked

Why two meeting points and not one?

Because you cannot always get back. The first is somewhere just outside the home that everyone can reach in seconds without going back inside for anything — the end of the drive, the lamp post, the tree across the road. The second is outside the neighbourhood entirely, for when the street is closed or nobody is being let back in: a relative's house, a library, a car park. Pick places that are open, obvious and easy to describe to a child, and walk to both of them once with everybody. A meeting point nobody has ever stood in is a line of text, not a plan.

What is the out-of-area contact for?

One person, well outside your local area, whom everyone rings or messages to say where they are and that they are all right. Local networks jam when a lot of people in one place all try at once, and a message out of the area often gets through when a call across the street does not. It also gives everyone one number to remember instead of five, and it means nobody is sitting waiting to hear from somebody who is already fine and simply cannot get a call through. Ask them first, tell them plainly what you are asking of them, and give them a copy of the plan and of your documents.

Why paper cards when everyone has a phone?

Because the people who need a card most are the ones without a working phone: children, anybody whose battery is flat, anybody who could not get to their handset. A number stored only in a phone is a number you do not have the moment the phone is gone, and almost nobody can recite a number from memory any more. The cards are wallet-sized, one per person, and there is a line to write the home address on by hand — a child who can hand somebody a card does not have to remember anything at all.

Why does it not say how to operate the gas valve?

Because getting that wrong is dangerous, and because the honest answer differs by country, by supply and by installation — the valve, the tool, whether you should touch it at all, and what has to happen before anything is turned back on are not the same in two places. A sheet of paper that guesses is worse than one that says nothing. So this records where the valve is and what tool is kept with it, and sends you to your utility provider's guidance for your own supply. If something smells wrong or looks wrong, get everybody out first and call your local emergency services and your utility provider from outside.

Where did the go-bag quantities come from?

From the per-person-per-day figures printed at the top of the checklist, multiplied by the household you entered and the number of days you chose. Those figures are this tool's own stated defaults — round numbers picked to be easy to check and easy to argue with. They are not a standard, not a requirement and not anybody's official guidance, and local guidance on quantities and on how many days to cover varies from place to place. Change the days field, or ignore a line entirely, and the arithmetic follows you rather than the other way round.

How many days should I plan for?

That is not this tool's call, and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise — local guidance differs from country to country and from place to place within a country, and what makes sense depends on where you live, who lives with you and what you can store. The days figure is a field with a stated default of three so the sheet has something to do arithmetic with, not a recommendation. Look up what your own local guidance says, put that number in, and the whole checklist rescales.

Does it name an agency or an emergency number?

No, deliberately. Emergency numbers differ by country, agencies and programmes are renamed and reorganised, and this tool runs offline with no way to check any of it. A confidently wrong number printed on a card a child is carrying is worse than a blank line, so the cards carry a blank line and the words "your local emergency services" instead. Write your own from a source you trust, and check it on the review date.

What should go in the medical note on a card?

Whatever that person chooses to put there, and nothing else. Nobody has to carry one. A card is a thing a stranger reads, so what appears on it belongs to the person carrying it — an allergy, a condition somebody would need to know about in a hurry, or nothing at all. Write it in plain words, keep it short, and let each person decide their own. The fuller version belongs in the document pack, not in a pocket.

Why is the review date something I have to type?

Because this tool has no clock. It runs entirely on your device with no network and no way to read the date, so it cannot say "review this in six months" and will not invent a date to look helpful. Pick something you will not forget — a birthday, a clock change, the start of a school year — and write it in. On that day, walk the meeting points, ring the out-of-area contact, check the food and water dates, see whether the children's spare clothes still fit, and charge the power bank.

Does anything I type leave my device?

No. The whole tool is a pure function running in your browser: no network, no server, no storage, no clock. Your addresses, your numbers and your household are yours. That is also why the sheet is meant to be printed and written on — the useful copy is the one on paper inside a kitchen cupboard door, not a file on a machine that may be behind you.