Emergency Guides
Every hazard in one place. Find your guide fast.
Pick the hazard. Each one leads to what to do right now, a guide to understand it, and a checklist for before, during, and after.
By Dan Whelan, founder of New World Survival
Researched from government agencies, university extension services, and other published sources. See our sources
Right now
For the moment it is happening, written for someone who did nothing ahead of time.
Understand it
How each hazard behaves, where it hits, and how a household plans ahead.
Checklist
Before, during, and after, in one list you can print or save.
FROM THE FIELD
The hazard on the label is rarely the part that wears a household down. Accounts from Hurricane Irma to Hurricane Ida describe the same shape: the storm passed in a night, and then came days of no power, spoiled food, long fuel lines, and heat with no air conditioning. Wildfire evacuees add a second lesson, that warnings can fail when power and cell towers go down. That is why each hazard here runs past the moment itself into the days after.
Before You Pick
No one can stop every emergency. Every household can shrink one.
Storms still come, the power still fails, and illness still moves through a town. What changes the outcome is how much a household knew and did before the moment arrived. The guides on this page are built to close that gap one hazard at a time, at whatever point you find them: a quiet evening months ahead, or the hour the sky turns.
How these guides work
Each hazard below offers up to three doors. Right Now is written for someone in the middle of it who did nothing ahead of time: short steps, nothing to study first. Understand It explains how the hazard behaves, where it tends to strike, and what a household can plan in advance. The Checklist turns that plan into a list for before, during, and after, ready to print or save on a phone.
If you have a quiet evening, start with Understand It. If the weather is already changing, start with Right Now and come back for the rest later. Hazards also tend to travel together. A hurricane can bring flooding and a long power outage behind it, so read the guides for its companions too.
Local officials come first
These guides are general preparation for households anywhere in the country. Your county, your city, and your utility know things about your street that no national page can. When local officials tell you to stay put, to leave, or to boil your water, follow that instruction, even when it differs from what you read here.
The guides are here to help you understand those instructions and act on them quickly. They are not a replacement for them. If an alert sent to your area seems unclear, Ready.gov's advice is to contact your local officials directly.
Steady is a skill
Staying calm is less a personality trait than a matter of having answered the easy questions early, so the hard moment holds fewer of them. Ready.gov's planning guide starts with five questions to settle as a household. They cover how you will get alerts, where you will shelter, which way you would leave, how you will reach each other, and whether your supplies need an update.
Your household may not be together when something happens, so agree on a meeting place everyone can find. Then practice the plan once. A plan you have walked through becomes something you do instead of something you have to remember.
Three things worth doing tonight
- Check that emergency alerts are turned on in your phone's settings. Wireless Emergency Alerts are free and need no sign-up, but some phones require you to enable them, and some carriers label them Government Alerts or Emergency Alert Messages. Then add a second route that does not depend on your phone: a NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts official warnings around the clock from the nearest National Weather Service office. The Emergency Alerts guide covers the rest.
- Pick the two or three hazards most likely where you live and read their Understand It guides first. The Local Risks pages can help you see which ones apply to your area.
- Write the plan down. Ready.gov offers a free fillable family emergency plan with room for each person's contact details, your meeting places, and medical information. Keep a printed copy somewhere everyone in the house knows to look, because a phone battery is not a filing cabinet.
Natural Hazards
Weather, water, and earth. Pick yours.
Not every hazard has all three guides yet. A link appears here only when its page is ready.
From the field · After the 2017 Sonoma County fires, evacuees described going days without reaching family once cell service failed. A meeting place agreed on ahead of time does not need a signal to work.
Weather
Hurricane
Wind, storm surge, flooding, and extended outages.
Tornado
Shelter, warning systems, and post-storm procedures.
Severe Thunderstorm
Lightning, hail, damaging wind, and surge protection.
Lightning
Strikes nearby, indoors and out.
High Wind
Derechos, microbursts, and straight-line wind.
Winter Storm
Heating backup, pipe protection, and extended outages.
Ice Storm
Ice accumulation, downed lines, and travel safety.
Earth and water
Flooding
River and coastal flooding, and water damage.
Flash Flood
Water rising fast with little warning.
Earthquake
Drop, cover, hold on, and structural safety.
Landslide
Warning signs, debris flows, and slope safety.
Volcanic Eruption
Ash fall, evacuation zones, and air quality.
Dam Failure
Inundation zones, warning systems, and evacuation.
Fire and heat
Wildfire
Defensible space, evacuation, and air quality.
Extreme Heat
Hydration, cooling strategies, and checking on neighbors.
Drought
Water conservation, supply, and long-term planning.
Systems, Health, and People
When the trouble is not the weather. Same three steps.
Outages, shortages, illness, and events people cause. Start with the guide that matches what is in front of you.
Power and supply
Power Outage
Backup power, food safety, and generator safety.
Solar Flare
Grid protection, GPS backup, and surge safety.
Water Contamination
Boil-water response, treatment, and safe recovery.
Supply Interruption
Food, medication, and cash buffers for shortages.
Financial Crisis
Running a household when banks, cards, and stores stop working normally.
Health
Pandemic
Hygiene, medication buffers, and household planning.
Foodborne Illness
Safe handling, recalls, and the 4-hour rule.
Human-caused
Chemical Spill and Hazmat
Shelter-in-place sealing and decontamination.
Radiation Emergency
Get inside, stay inside, stay tuned.
Civil Disruption
Situational awareness, alternate routes, and planning.
Mass-Casualty Response
Bleeding control, first aid, and bystander readiness.
Personal and Workplace Safety
Active Shooter
Run, hide, fight, and what to do when officers arrive.
Suspicious Mail
The warning signs, and the four steps if one is in front of you.
Disruptive Person
Make space, stay calm, and get help without being the hero.
Workplace Violence
Documenting a threat, reporting channels, and worker rights.
Sexual Assault
The 24/7 hotline, medical care, and choices that stay yours.
Mental Health Crisis
988 by call, text, or chat, any hour of any day.
After a Crime
The report, the evidence, and the victim services most people never find.
Want the hazards that matter where you live? See local risks by state and situation.
For the federal version of any hazard, see Ready.gov's Disasters and Emergencies index.
Continue reading
What’s next
Planning
Hazard-Specific Planning
What sets each hazard apart, the difference between a watch and a warning, and the action triggers worth deciding before anything happens.
Resources
Trusted Hazards Resources
The official alert services and response agencies we would send you to, grouped by hazard, with why each one earned its place.
Shelter
Shelter Priorities by Situation
Stay, go, go low, or go up. The first moves for eleven situations, from a house fire and a tornado to wildfire smoke and extreme heat.
Your Plan
Your Action Plan
When a hazard is heading your way, build a clear action plan around your own household and check where things stand.