Emergency Prep Isn’t Just for “Preppers”

A graphic of different emergency patches with symbols on them.

In this edition of The Recommendation, our editor-in-chief discusses why everyone, to some extent, should prepare for natural disasters. Plus: a few simple ways to get started.

It’s all too easy to procrastinate on preparing for a potential disaster, telling yourself it won’t happen to you.

For years, I was guilty of this, convincing myself that the cost and effort of preparing — what a chore! — wasn’t worth it. What were the chances, I thought, that I’d actually need a shop vac to clean up a flooded basement or a generator to ride out a power outage? Pretty small, right?

Then my house flooded during a violently scaturient storm. And I wished I had that shop vac.

This dynamic creates something of a cruel catch-22. Many people put off preparing. By the time an emergency is upon them, it’s too late to prepare. And that’s the moment when they wish they had.

Our latest project, a series of deeply reported articles and helpful tools focused on emergency prep, is our attempt to help you avoid that fate.

Our expert journalists have spent more than a decade researching, reporting, and testing to provide the best possible advice on preparing for a variety of natural disasters. Many of them have personally survived hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, and flooding. Their experience deeply and personally informs our advice.

Start with our new personalized disaster-prep kit builder tool. It’ll take you just a minute to answer four questions, and then we’ll give you personalized options for the gear you should consider having on hand. Simple as that.



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