Your situation · Apartment
Everything in the standard 72-hour plan still applies. This guide covers what changes when you live in a shared building without a garage, a yard, or a car in the driveway.
The reality
An apartment changes the math on emergency prep, but it doesn't make it harder. Some things are actually easier. You just need to know where the differences are.
No garage, no basement. Water and supplies compete with your belongings for square footage. The solution is thinking vertically and under furniture, not buying less.
You share stairwells, hallways, and exits with dozens of other households. Your evacuation plan depends on theirs, and theirs on the building's. Know the building's plan before you write your own.
Proximity is an advantage in an emergency. The people across the hall can share information, lend tools, and check on each other faster than anyone in a spread-out neighborhood.
Storage in small spaces
The standard 72-hour kit still calls for one gallon of water per person per day and three days of no-cook food. Here is how to store it when your closets are already full.
A Reliance Aqua-Tainer holds 7 gallons and slides under a bed. Two of them cover a two-person household for 72 hours with a gallon to spare. Cost: $15 each.
If under-bed space is taken, the back of a coat closet works. Stand the container upright and push coats forward. You will forget it is there, which is the point.
For a four-person household, add a WaterBOB bathtub bladder ($35) as your surge reserve. Fill it when a storm warning arrives. It holds 100 gallons in a standard tub.
Most apartment kitchens already hold three days of food if you know where to look. Peanut butter, crackers, canned tuna, granola bars, dried fruit. The issue is usually not quantity but awareness.
Keep a small bin (shoebox-sized) with items that require no cooking and no refrigeration. Label it, tuck it behind the cereal. Rotate every six months by eating what is there and replacing it.
The apartment-sized kit
Total footprint: about 2 square feet of floor space and a few drawers. Total cost: $110-$200.
Know your building
In a house, you control the utilities, the exits, and the structure. In an apartment, the building does. The more you know about your building, the fewer surprises you face.
Walk every stairwell in your building at least once. Count the floors, note whether doors lock behind you, and check whether the ground-floor exit dumps you into the lobby or outside. Some buildings have stairwells that exit to a loading dock or alley you have never seen.
If you live above the sixth floor, know that most fire department ladders reach only 75-100 feet. Your primary escape route is always the stairwell, not a window.
Never use the elevator during a fire alarm. This is not a suggestion. Modern elevators are programmed to return to the ground floor and stop running when the fire alarm activates. If you are inside one when that happens, you wait until fire crews manually release it.
During earthquakes, the rule is the same: take the stairs. Elevator shafts can shift and jam the car between floors.
In most apartments, you can shut off your own water at the fixture valves (under sinks, behind the toilet). The building-wide gas and water shutoffs are controlled by maintenance. Know who to call and how to reach them after hours.
Locate your unit's breaker panel. Label each breaker with the room it controls. In a power outage, you want to turn off individual circuits to prevent surge damage when power returns.
Ask your property manager or landlord three questions: Does the building have an emergency plan? Where is the designated assembly point? Is there a backup generator, and what does it power (usually just the elevator and hallway lights, not your unit)?
Save the building management after-hours number in your phone. Write it on your paper contact card too.
Getting out
Many apartment dwellers do not own a vehicle. That does not make evacuation impossible. It makes planning more important.
01
Map the nearest bus and rail stops. Many transit agencies run modified service during weather events. Save your local transit authority's alert page or app. In a mandatory evacuation, some cities deploy free shuttle buses from designated pickup points.
02
Identify two people with vehicles who could pick you up. Ask them now, not during the storm warning. One should live nearby, one in a different direction. Add them to your written contact card as "evacuation ride."
03
If you are walking, biking, or taking transit, your ready bag has to fit on your back. Limit it to 20-25 pounds. Prioritize documents, medications, phone charger, one change of clothes, water bottle, and cash. Leave the heavy gear at home.
04
Search your city or county emergency management website for shelter locations. Shelters accept walk-ins. Not all accept pets. If you have a pet, confirm pet-friendly shelters before an event. Your local Red Cross chapter maintains the most current list.
05
During mandatory evacuations, rideshare services surge-price or go offline entirely as drivers leave the area. Taxis face the same problem. A friend with a car or a transit shuttle is more reliable than an app.
06
Most emergencies do not require evacuation. A well-built apartment above the flood plain, with supplies on hand, is a perfectly good place to ride out a storm, an ice event, or a power outage. Evacuate when authorities say to. Otherwise, stay and use your kit.
During the event
Where you shelter inside your apartment depends on what is happening outside. The right room for a tornado is the wrong room for a wildfire smoke event.
Move to the most interior room on the lowest floor you can reach. A bathroom or closet without exterior walls is ideal. Stay away from windows. If your apartment has floor-to-ceiling glass, get into the hallway or a neighbor's interior unit.
Bring your phone, shoes, and ready bag. Crouch low, cover your head. The danger is glass and debris, not the building falling.
Feel the door before opening it. If it is hot, do not open it. Seal the gap under the door with wet towels and call 911 from inside. If the door is cool, take the stairs. Close your apartment door behind you but do not lock it, so fire crews can enter.
Never use the elevator. Stay low if there is smoke. If you cannot reach the stairwell, go to a room with a window, close the door behind you, and signal from the window.
Close all windows and exterior doors. Turn off any ventilation that draws outside air. Run the bathroom exhaust fan to create slight negative pressure if you can seal the rest. An air purifier with a HEPA filter ($60-$150) in your bedroom makes sleeping through a multi-day smoke event possible.
Keep a few N95 masks for trips outside. The balcony is not a safe breathing space during a smoke event, no matter how it looks.
Your apartment will hold temperature longer than a house because you share walls with heated neighbors. In winter, close off rooms and hang blankets over windows. In summer, open windows on opposite sides for cross-ventilation after dark.
Use your food in this order: refrigerator first (good for about 4 hours closed), then freezer (24-48 hours if full), then your no-cook emergency bin. A USB power bank keeps your phone alive for 2-3 full charges.
Recovery and documentation
Your landlord's insurance covers the building. It does not cover your furniture, your clothes, your laptop, or your temporary housing if the unit becomes uninhabitable. That is your problem unless you have renter's insurance.
A standard renter's policy covers personal property (your belongings), liability (someone gets hurt in your unit), and loss of use (temporary housing if you cannot live there). Most policies cost $15-$30 per month. The deductible matters more than the premium. Choose the highest deductible you can comfortably pay out of pocket.
Walk through your apartment with your phone camera. Open every drawer, every closet. Record serial numbers on electronics. This video takes 10 minutes and saves weeks of argument with an insurance adjuster. Store it in cloud storage, not just on the phone.
Paper copies of your lease, renter's insurance policy number and claims phone number, photo ID, and your landlord's contact information. Keep these in a zip-seal bag. Digital copies in cloud storage serve as backup.
Do not re-enter a damaged building until management or authorities clear it. Document any damage to your unit with photos before moving or cleaning anything. File your renter's insurance claim within 24 hours. Your landlord is responsible for making the unit habitable. If they cannot, your loss-of-use coverage pays for a hotel or temporary rental.
The math
A renter's policy at $20/month costs $240 per year. A laptop replacement alone costs $800-$1,500. A month in temporary housing costs $1,500-$3,000. The policy pays for itself the first time you need it.
If you do not have renter's insurance, get a quote this week. It takes 15 minutes online. This is the single most important apartment-specific preparedness step.
Coordinate with neighbors
Introduce yourself to the neighbors on your floor. Exchange phone numbers with at least two of them. In a building-wide event, a floor group chat is worth more than any piece of gear.
If your building has an online forum or resident app, join it. After a power outage, this is where people share information about restoration timelines and which nearby businesses still have power.
Resources
The federal baseline for household emergency planning. Includes a family plan template and the official shelter locator.
Visit Ready.gov →
Shelter locator, local chapter finder, and the Red Cross Emergency app for real-time alerts specific to your location.
Find your chapter →
Find your state's insurance department if you need help with a renter's insurance claim or have questions about coverage requirements.
Find your state →
The foundation
Everything on this page builds on the standard 72-hour kit. If you have not set that up yet, start there. It takes one weekend.
Build your 72-hour kit