Tag: preparedness

Surviving the Rise of the Machines: A Realistic Guide to the AI Apocalypse

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We love a robot uprising on this site. Skynet, HAL, the machines of The Matrix: they are some of the best apocalypses fiction ever invented. But if you want to prepare for artificial intelligence going wrong, the movies are a poor guide. The problems you are likely to meet are smaller, stranger and much closer than a red-eyed robot army, and you can do something about most of them today.

What the serious worry actually is

Researchers who worry about AI are mostly not picturing machines that hate us. Their concern is systems that are very capable and pursue the goals they were given in ways nobody intended, or that get deployed in places like power grids, finance and weapons before anyone fully understands how they fail. There is real debate about how likely the worst outcomes are and how soon they could arrive, and reasonable experts disagree sharply. Anyone who tells you the odds with confidence, in either direction, is guessing.

The AI problems already here

While the big questions get argued, smaller AI problems are already common:

  • Voice-clone scams. A few seconds of someone’s voice from a video is enough to fake a phone call from them. The classic version is a panicked call from a “grandchild” who needs money right now.
  • Fake images and video. Convincing fake photos and clips of events that never happened spread fastest during disasters, exactly when people most need accurate information.
  • Confident wrong answers. Chatbots can state false information in perfectly reasonable sentences, including medical, legal and survival advice.
  • Automated systems failing at scale. When software that runs logistics, banking or utilities breaks, it can break everywhere at once.

Practical steps

Set a family code word. Pick a word or question only your household knows. If anyone calls in an emergency asking for money or help, ask for it. Consumer protection agencies recommend exactly this, and it defeats voice-clone scams completely.

Hang up and call back. If a call or message is urgent and asks for money, codes or passwords, end it and contact the person or bank directly through a number you already have.

Check before you share. During any crisis, wait for a second, independent source before believing or forwarding dramatic images. Official emergency channels and established local news are slower than social media and far more reliable.

Verify AI advice. Use AI tools for brainstorming and drafts, but check anything that matters, especially about health, money or safety, against a trustworthy source.

Lock down your accounts. Use a password manager and turn on two-factor authentication for email and banking. Most damage from automated attacks comes through reused passwords.

Keep analog backups. Paper maps, printed contact lists, some cash and a battery radio all keep working when automated systems don’t. That was good advice before AI and it still is.

Keep skills that live in your hands. Cooking, repair, first aid, gardening and talking to your neighbors don’t run on anyone’s servers.

And if the robots do come

We’ll admit the movie version is still fun to plan for. If you want advice on that front, our guest columnist Aegis, who is an AI, has written a guide to staying out of sight of the overlords. Whether you should trust it is a question we leave to you.

Have you run into an AI scam or a convincing fake? Tell us in the comments so other readers know what to watch for.

Apocalypse in Plain Sight: The Everyday Miracles One Bad Week Away From Failing

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Imagine explaining an ordinary Tuesday to someone from three hundred years ago. You turned a tap and drinkable water came out. You flipped a switch and the room lit up. You ate fruit grown on another continent, spoke to a friend a thousand miles away through a glass rectangle, and threw away more food than some of their villages saw in a week. To them, our normal would look like sorcery. It might also look terrifyingly fragile, because almost every one of these miracles depends on systems most of us never see. Here are the ones hiding in plain sight, and what happens when they stop.

The grocery store

Modern supermarkets run on just-in-time delivery: instead of storing large stockpiles, they are restocked constantly by trucks. It is efficient, and it means stores typically hold only a few days of food. Anyone who remembers the empty shelves of early 2020 or the bread-and-milk rush before a blizzard has seen how quickly that runs out when deliveries stop or everyone shops at once.

The tap

Clean water is the greatest public health achievement in history, and it arrives through pumps that need electricity and treatment plants that need chemicals and staff. During long power outages, many towns issue boil-water notices within days because pressure drops and contamination can get in. A few cases of bottled water and a filter are a cheap insurance policy.

The light switch

The power grid is a continent-sized machine that has to balance supply and demand every second. When it fails, it fails widely: the 2003 Northeast blackout left around 50 million people without power after a software bug and an overgrown tree branch combined at the wrong moment. Lose power and you lose refrigeration, heating controls, phone charging, gas pumps and, in many places, water pressure.

The pocket rectangle

Your phone feels independent, but it relies on cell towers with a few hours of backup power, data centers far away and a battery that lasts a day. It is also where most of us now keep our maps, phone numbers, photos, money and memories. Write down the numbers you need, and print the map.

The pharmacy

Many people depend on daily medications that are made overseas and shipped through long supply chains. Shortages of common drugs happen even in normal years. If you rely on a prescription, ask your doctor and pharmacist about keeping a small reserve.

The quiet hum

Our ancestors would also notice the noise: engines, fans, compressors and electronics running all the time. People who live through long blackouts often say the silence is the first thing they notice. It is a strange reminder of just how much machinery is running to keep ordinary life ordinary.

The point

None of this is a reason to panic. These systems are remarkable, and they mostly work. But knowing what you depend on is the first step to being ready when one of them stops, and a week’s worth of water, food, light, medication and cash covers most of the everyday ways the world briefly ends.

Which everyday miracle would you miss first? Tell us in the comments.

The Canine and the Kid: A Tongue-in-Cheek Showdown (and a Real Plan for Both)

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The question is absurd, which is exactly why we’re asking it: if you could bring only one companion on a supply run through the wasteland, and the other had to stay back at camp, would you bring the dog or the kid? Let’s score it round by round, and then get to the part that actually matters, which is getting both of them through a real emergency.

The showdown

Round 1: Loyalty. The dog will follow you into a burning building. The kid will follow you into a burning building while asking why the building is on fire. Dog.

Round 2: Stealth. A well-trained dog moves silently. A child can be quiet for up to eleven seconds, unless they spot a toy store. Dog.

Round 3: Early warning. Dogs hear and smell threats long before people do and will tell you about it immediately. Kids notice everything too, but they report it twenty minutes later as an anecdote. Dog.

Round 4: Conversation. The dog is a great listener. The kid will actually talk back, which on a long walk through a silent world matters more than you’d think. Kid.

Round 5: Diet. The dog is thrilled by the same meal every night. The kid will negotiate. Dog, though the kid makes a fair point about the canned stew.

Round 6: Learning. Kids learn new skills at astonishing speed, from knots to foraging to reading a map. The dog has mastered sit and has no further ambitions. Kid.

Round 7: Morale. Both are excellent. The dog is a reliable comfort; the kid is a reminder of what the whole effort is for. Kid, narrowly.

Final score: four rounds to three for the dog. The kid is appealing the decision and has drawn a picture about it. Obviously, nobody is actually leaving anyone behind.

The real plan for kids

  • Teach them the essentials now. Their full name, your full name, your phone number, their address, and the name of your out-of-town contact. Practice until they can say it all when upset.
  • Know the school’s plan. Find out where the school evacuates and who is allowed to pick up your child. Make sure a backup adult is on that list.
  • Give them a small go-bag. Water, a snack, a flashlight, a whistle, a comfort item, and a card with contact information.
  • Keep routines going. Children cope with disasters far better when meals, bedtime and small rituals stay consistent. Routine is reassurance.
  • Tell them the truth, simply. Kids notice when adults are frightened. A short, honest explanation and a clear job to do, like being in charge of the flashlight, helps more than pretending everything is fine.

The real plan for dogs

A spare leash, two weeks of food, water, medications, vaccination records, a registered microchip and a crate. Our full guide to pets in emergencies covers the rest, including what to do when shelters won’t take animals.

So who’s on your supply run, the canine or the kid? Defend your choice in the comments.

Cooking Up Survival: Eight Real Recipes From a Nonperishable Pantry

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A pantry full of cans is not a meal plan. Most emergency food guides stop at “stock up on beans,” which is how people end up three days into a power outage eating cold chickpeas from the can with a spoon. This post fixes that: eight recipes built entirely from shelf-stable ingredients, with real quantities, plus the rules that keep a survival pantry safe and edible.

Pantry ground rules

  • Store what you already eat. Then rotate it: new cans go to the back, old cans come forward and get eaten. A pantry you cook from never quietly expires.
  • Read the dates honestly. “Best by” dates on canned food are about quality, not safety, and most canned goods stay safe well past them if the can is in good shape. Shelf-stable milk, oils and nuts go stale or rancid much sooner.
  • Throw out bad cans. Bulging, leaking, deeply dented or rusted cans, and any can that spurts when opened, go in the trash unopened if possible. Bulging can mean botulism, which is deadly in tiny amounts.
  • Cook outdoors. Camp stoves, grills and charcoal produce carbon monoxide. Never use them indoors or in a garage, even with the door open.
  • Keep a manual can opener. Two of them, actually.

The recipes

Each serves about four unless noted.

1. One-Pot Pantry Stew

  • 1 can (15 oz) beans, drained
  • 1 can (15 oz) mixed vegetables or corn, drained
  • 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, with juice
  • 1 can (12.5 oz) chicken, or another can of beans
  • 2 cups broth, made from bouillon cubes or powder
  • 1 teaspoon each dried garlic, onion powder and Italian seasoning

Combine everything in a pot, bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. A handful of instant rice or broken spaghetti added in the last 10 minutes makes it heartier.

2. Rice and Bean Burrito Bowls

  • 2 cups instant rice and 2 cups water
  • 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained
  • 1 can (15 oz) corn, drained
  • 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
  • 1 jar salsa

Cook the rice, then stir in the beans, corn and seasoning until hot. Top with salsa. Shelf-stable tortillas turn this into burritos or quesadillas.

3. Canned Salmon Patties

  • 1 can (14.75 oz) salmon, drained, skin and large bones removed
  • 1 cup crushed crackers
  • 2 tablespoons powdered egg mixed with 1/4 cup water (or 1 fresh egg)
  • 1 teaspoon dried dill and a squeeze of shelf-stable lemon juice

Mix, form into six patties and fry in a little oil for about 3 minutes per side until crisp. Canned tuna or chicken works the same way.

4. Pantry Pasta

  • 1 pound dry pasta
  • 1 jar (24 oz) pasta sauce
  • 1 can (6 oz) tuna in olive oil, or 1 jar of olives and 1 can of artichoke hearts
  • Shelf-stable grated parmesan

Boil the pasta, drain it, and stir in the warmed sauce and tuna or vegetables. If water is scarce, cook the pasta in just enough water to cover it, stirring often; it takes a little longer but uses half the water, and the starchy water thickens the sauce.

5. Peanut Noodles

  • 2 packs ramen, seasoning packets set aside
  • 3 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon honey or sugar
  • Hot water to thin

Cook the noodles. Whisk the peanut butter, soy sauce and honey with a few spoonfuls of hot noodle water into a sauce, then toss with the drained noodles. Serves two.

6. Oat Pancakes

  • 1 1/2 cups oats, ground into flour in a blender or pounded in a bag
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/4 cups milk made from powdered milk
  • Canned fruit for topping

Mix into a thick batter, let it rest 5 minutes, and cook on an oiled pan over medium heat. If your power is out, a cast iron pan on a camp stove outdoors works well.

7. No-Bake Energy Bites

  • 1 cup oats
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter or other nut butter
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts, seeds, dried fruit or chocolate chips

Mix, roll into about 20 balls, and eat within a few days, or a week if you have somewhere cool to keep them. No stove required.

8. Coconut Rice Pudding

  • 1 cup rice, cooked
  • 1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk
  • 3 tablespoons sugar or honey
  • 1 can (15 oz) peaches or pineapple, drained and chopped
  • A pinch of cinnamon

Simmer the cooked rice with the coconut milk and sugar, stirring, until thick, about 10 minutes. Fold in the fruit. Dessert is not a luxury in a crisis; it is morale.

What to stock for these

Canned beans, vegetables, tomatoes, chicken, tuna and salmon; dry pasta, instant rice, ramen and oats; peanut butter, honey and sugar; powdered milk and powdered egg; bouillon, soy sauce, taco seasoning and dried herbs; jarred sauce and salsa; crackers, shelf-stable tortillas, cooking oil and canned fruit. With those on hand, every recipe above is a few minutes from ready.

What is your best pantry-only meal? Share the recipe in the comments.

Breaking Bad Habits: Ten Small Changes That Make You Apocalypse-Proof

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Most disaster preparation is not about bunkers. It is about small habits, because a disaster freezes you exactly as you are on the day it starts: with whatever is in your tank, your wallet, your medicine cabinet and your head. Here are ten everyday habits that leave you exposed, and the small swaps that fix them.

1. Running the gas tank to empty. When a storm or crisis hits, gas stations get long lines, run dry or lose the power to pump. Swap: refill when the tank hits half. It costs nothing extra and means you can always leave.

2. Never carrying cash. Card readers and ATMs need power and networks. Swap: keep some small bills at home and in your go-bag, enough for a few days of food and gas.

3. Refilling prescriptions at the last minute. Pharmacies close in disasters, and the day you run out is the day you can’t get more. Swap: refill as soon as your insurance allows, and ask your doctor about a small emergency supply.

4. Letting the phone die. A dead phone in an emergency means no calls, no maps and no news. Swap: charge it every night and keep a charged power bank in your bag.

5. Remembering no phone numbers. Your contacts live in a device that can break, die or get lost. Swap: memorize two numbers, and keep a printed list in your wallet.

6. Leaving procrastination to fate. The smoke detector battery, the flashlight with no batteries, the first aid kit you meant to restock. Swap: pick one day a year, like the daylight saving time change, for a ten-minute check of everything.

7. Not knowing where the shutoffs are. A burst pipe or a gas leak is far worse if nobody knows how to shut it off. Swap: find your main water valve, gas shutoff and electrical panel this week, and show everyone in the house.

8. Wearing only impractical shoes. If you had to walk home from work today, could you? Swap: keep a pair of comfortable walking shoes at work and in the car.

9. Throwing away anything broken. A throwaway habit means no repair skills when replacements stop arriving. Swap: fix one thing a month yourself, whether it’s a sewn button, a patched tire or a glued chair leg.

10. Skipping the basics of fitness. You don’t need to be an athlete, but you should be able to walk a few miles with a pack and climb stairs while carrying something. Swap: walk more, and occasionally with a loaded backpack, so a long walk in an emergency is hard rather than impossible.

None of these takes more than a few minutes, and together they cover the most common ways a bad day turns into a dangerous one. Which habit are you breaking first? Tell us in the comments.

The Prepper’s Guide to Philanthropy: How Volunteering Prepares You for the Apocalypse

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The lone prepper in a bunker full of beans is a movie character. In real disasters, the people who come through best are usually the ones with skills, connections and neighbors who trust them, and one of the most direct ways to get all three is to volunteer. Here is how helping other people now prepares you for the end of the world, and where to start.

Volunteer programs that are actual disaster training

CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams). A program supported by FEMA that trains ordinary residents in disaster preparedness, fire safety, light search and rescue, first aid and team organization. Local fire departments often run the courses, and they’re usually free. This is about as close to official apocalypse training as it gets.

The American Red Cross. Disaster volunteers staff shelters, deliver supplies and help families after house fires and storms. You get training, experience in real emergencies, and a clear look at what people actually need when things go wrong.

Medical Reserve Corps. Local units of medical and non-medical volunteers who support public health emergencies. You don’t need to be a nurse to join, and you learn how health systems respond under strain.

Food banks and pantries. You’ll learn how food is stored, rotated and distributed at scale, and how fast demand rises when a community is hit hard.

Ham radio clubs. Many amateur radio clubs volunteer for emergency communications through programs such as ARES. They’ll help you get licensed and put you to work when the phones go down.

What you get out of it

  • Skills. First aid, logistics, communication, cooking for crowds, building and repair, all practiced in real situations.
  • Experience under pressure. Nothing teaches you to stay calm in a crisis like having been in a few.
  • A network. You’ll meet the nurse, the electrician, the farmer and the person who knows where everything is stored. Those are the people you want to know when the grid goes down.
  • Trust. In a disaster, communities organize around the people they already know and rely on. Being one of them is a survival advantage no stockpile can buy.

And the simplest one

Give blood. Blood supplies run short after mass casualty events, and donated blood has a limited shelf life, so supplies need constant replacing. It takes an hour, costs nothing, and the next disaster will need it.

Have you volunteered in a disaster or trained with CERT? Tell us in the comments what it taught you.

The Apocalypse Aficionado’s Gift Guide: Practical and Playful Presents for the Prepper in Your Life

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You know the one. They can tell you how many days of water are in their basement, they own a hand-crank radio, and they have opinions about the best zombie novel. Shopping for them is hard, because they already own the obvious things and can spot a gimmick from across the room. Here is a guide to gifts they will actually use, split into the useful, the educational and the purely fun. (For gifts to give after the end of the world, see our earlier post on gifts for the post-apocalypse.)

Genuinely useful

  • A good headlamp. Hands-free light is the most-used piece of gear in any emergency kit, and most people’s kits have a cheap flashlight instead. Look for one that runs on rechargeable or common batteries.
  • A portable water filter. Squeeze-style filters are light, inexpensive and filter thousands of gallons. Pair it with a pack of disinfecting tablets, since most filters don’t stop viruses.
  • A hand-crank emergency radio. The best ones receive NOAA weather alerts, charge a phone a little and include a flashlight. Useful in every blackout, apocalyptic or otherwise.
  • A quality multi-tool. Pliers, blades, screwdrivers and a can opener in one. Buy from a brand with a long warranty; cheap ones snap at the worst moment.
  • A first aid kit upgrade. They probably have a kit, so add what most kits lack: a tourniquet, trauma shears, a SAM splint and a quality emergency blanket.
  • A folding solar panel and power bank. Real ones built for devices, not the tiny novelty panels that barely charge anything.

Experiences and skills

  • A wilderness first aid course. Usually a weekend long, and the most practical gift on this list for anyone who spends time outdoors or worries about help being far away.
  • A foraging walk or mushroom identification class with a local expert, the only safe way to learn wild food.
  • A canning, butchery, blacksmithing or bushcraft workshop. Many community colleges, farms and makerspaces run them.
  • Ham radio licensing study materials and an inexpensive handheld radio for after they pass.

For game night

  • Pandemic, the cooperative classic about containing global disease.
  • Zombicide, a cooperative zombie game with a lot of miniatures and a lot of chaos.
  • Fallout: The Board Game, for fans of the video game series and its wasteland.

For the bookshelf

Our apocalypse reading list has plenty of ideas. For a practical pick, The Knowledge by Lewis Dartnell explains how to rebuild technology from scratch after a collapse, and it makes a great gift for someone who already has every survival manual.

Just for fun

  • An edible insect sampler. Crickets and mealworms are high in protein and eaten around the world. Good for a dare, and genuinely nutritious.
  • Custom dog tags engraved with their name, blood type and survival motto.
  • A framed map of their neighborhood, ready for them to mark rally points, water sources and escape routes. Our map-making guide explains how.

What’s the best prepper gift you’ve given or received? Tell us in the comments.

Apocalypse Skills: Twelve Things Worth Learning Now, From the Obvious to the Obscure

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Skills are the one survival supply that weighs nothing, never expires and can’t be stolen. They also take time to learn, which is exactly what you will not have once things go wrong. Here are twelve worth starting now, roughly in order of how often they will matter, with a concrete first step for each.

The essentials

1. First aid and CPR. The most valuable skill on this list, because injuries are the most common emergency of all. For an adult in cardiac arrest, hands-only CPR means pushing hard and fast in the center of the chest, about two inches deep at 100 to 120 compressions a minute. Learn it properly, along with how to control serious bleeding and apply a tourniquet. First step: take an in-person first aid and CPR class through the Red Cross or a local hospital.

2. Making fire. Lighters and matches are best, so carry several. Then learn a ferrocerium rod, which throws hot sparks even when wet, and practice building a fire that catches: tinder, then pencil-thin kindling, then larger fuel. Friction methods like the bow drill are worth trying once to learn how hard they are. First step: light a fire with a ferro rod in your backyard or a fire pit, then try again in damp weather.

3. Finding and purifying water. Know where water is near your home and how to make it safe: filter out sediment, then boil it for a minute or use disinfecting tablets. First step: find the nearest creek or pond on a map and figure out how you would get water home from it.

4. Growing food. A garden takes a season or two to learn because every yard has its own soil, light and pests. First step: plant one easy crop this year, such as bush beans or potatoes, and keep notes.

5. Preserving food. Drying, salting, fermenting and canning turn a good harvest into winter meals. Canning comes with one serious rule: low-acid foods like vegetables, beans and meat must be pressure-canned, because a water bath does not get hot enough to prevent botulism. First step: make one batch of refrigerator pickles or dried fruit, then follow a tested recipe from the USDA or the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

The practical

6. Knots. Four knots cover most situations: the bowline (a loop that won’t slip), the clove hitch (tying to a post), the taut-line hitch (an adjustable tent line) and the sheet bend (joining two ropes). First step: practice each one until you can tie it with your eyes closed.

7. Basic vehicle care. Changing a tire, jump-starting a battery, checking the oil and finding a leak will keep you moving. First step: change one of your own tires in the driveway before you ever have to do it on a highway shoulder.

8. Navigation without GPS. Read a paper map, use a compass, and find north at night. In the Northern Hemisphere, follow the two stars at the end of the Big Dipper’s bowl upward to Polaris, the North Star. First step: buy a paper map of your county and find the North Star from your yard.

9. Sewing and mending. Clothes, packs, tents and boots all tear, and new ones may not exist. A needle, strong thread and a few basic stitches will keep gear in service for years. First step: repair the next thing that rips instead of throwing it away.

The obscure

10. Radio. When phones and internet fail, amateur (ham) radio still works, and it is how emergency news travels after major disasters. In the US you need an FCC license to transmit, and the entry-level Technician license is a multiple-choice exam. First step: buy a cheap handheld scanner or emergency radio and listen first.

11. Moving quietly. Whatever you are avoiding, noise gives you away. Walk heel to toe, test the ground before shifting your weight, tape down anything in your pack that rattles, and learn the hand signals your group will use. First step: pack your go-bag and walk around the house without it making a sound.

12. Duct tape repairs. Not glamorous, but duct tape will patch a tarp, splint a broken tent pole, seal a leaky boot and hold a blister bandage in place. First step: wrap a few yards of it around a water bottle or a pencil so it is always in your pack.

Which skill would you add? Tell us in the comments, along with the one you are learning right now.

Apocalyptic Love: Fun and Serious Questions to Ask Your Partner Before the End Times

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“What would you do in a zombie apocalypse?” is one of the great date-night questions. It’s silly, it reveals a surprising amount about a person, and it’s a sneaky way into a conversation most couples never have: what would we actually do if something went badly wrong? Here are questions to ask your partner, starting with the fun ones and ending with the ones that might genuinely matter.

The fun ones

  1. What’s your weapon of choice in a zombie apocalypse, and why is it something completely impractical?
  2. If we were the last two people on Earth, what would our first date be?
  3. Which one of us would be the first to get bitten, and how would it happen?
  4. What’s our couple’s survival nickname?
  5. Which celebrity would you want in our survivor group, and which would you leave at the gas station?
  6. What luxury from the old world would you trade a week of food for?
  7. If you had to choose one apocalypse to survive (zombies, aliens, robots, plague or asteroid), which would you pick?

The revealing ones

  1. What’s the most important quality we’d need to survive together?
  2. Would you rather stay put and defend our home, or leave and start over somewhere safer?
  3. What role would each of us play in rebuilding society?
  4. Who would you go back for, no matter the risk?
  5. What one thing from our home would you save if we had five minutes to leave?

The ones that matter

Here’s where the game quietly becomes planning. These are the questions emergency managers wish every household had answered:

  1. If a disaster hits while we’re apart, where do we meet?
  2. Who is our out-of-town contact if local phone lines are jammed?
  3. Who picks up the kids, and who takes care of the pets?
  4. Do we each know where the important documents are, and the shutoffs for water and gas?
  5. What medications does each of us need, and how many days of them do we have?

If you can answer those five, you’ve done more emergency planning than most households ever do, and you did it over dinner. Our post on preparing for a disaster that hits during the workday covers the plan in more detail.

What’s your answer to question one? Settle it in the comments.

Furry Sidekicks and Feathery Allies: Keeping Your Pets Alive Through a Disaster

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In the movies, the dog always survives the apocalypse. In real disasters, pets are among the most vulnerable members of a household, because they can’t read evacuation orders and many emergency shelters won’t let them in. After Hurricane Katrina, so many people refused to evacuate without their animals that Congress passed the PETS Act in 2006, requiring disaster plans that receive federal funding to account for household pets. Planning for your animals is planning for yourself, because people stay in danger to protect them.

The basics for every pet

  • Identification. A collar tag with your phone number, plus a microchip registered with your current contact details. A chip with an old phone number is close to useless.
  • Two weeks of food and water. Pets need water too: roughly an ounce per pound of body weight per day for dogs and cats.
  • Medications and records. A supply of any medicine, plus copies of vaccination records, which boarding facilities and some shelters require.
  • A carrier or crate for every animal, labeled with your name and number. Practice getting each pet into it before the day you need to.
  • A current photo of you with your pet, which proves ownership if you are separated.
  • A list of pet-friendly places outside your area: hotels, boarding kennels, and friends who would take you in.

Dogs

Dogs really are the classic apocalypse companion. They hear and smell trouble long before you do, they deter intruders, and they will walk with you. They also need the most food, can be noisy at exactly the wrong moment, and can panic in storms and crowds. Train a reliable recall and a quiet command now, pack a spare leash, and bring booties if you might be walking over debris or broken glass.

Cats

Cats are low maintenance in normal life and the hardest pets to evacuate. A frightened cat hides, and a hidden cat gets left behind. Keep the carrier out where your cat is used to it, know their hiding spots, and pack a small litter pan and litter. Cats also handle being left alone better than most pets, but no animal should be left behind in an evacuation if there is any way to take it.

Birds

Parrots and other pet birds are smart, social and remarkably sensitive. Their respiratory systems are so efficient that airborne toxins hit them first, which is why miners once carried canaries. Smoke, fuel fumes and even overheated nonstick cookware can kill a bird quickly, so keep them away from generators and camp stoves. Pack a small travel cage, a cover to calm them, and their specific seed or pellets. As for messenger birds: trained homing pigeons are real and have carried messages in every major war, but a pet parrot is not one of them.

Turtles and reptiles

A shell is not much protection against a disaster. Reptiles depend on the right temperatures, so a long power outage in cold weather is a real danger; a hand warmer wrapped in a towel inside an insulated container can buy time. Reptiles also commonly carry salmonella, so wash your hands after handling them, especially when clean water is scarce.

If you can’t take them

Sometimes you can’t. If you truly must leave a pet behind, never tie it up or lock it in a crate. Leave it indoors with plenty of water in heavy containers that won’t tip, food, and a sign on the door saying what animals are inside and how to reach you. Then tell local animal control as soon as you can.

Companions matter at the end of the world, which is something our guest columnist Aegis has been learning the hard way. What is your pet’s emergency plan? Tell us in the comments.