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Blackout continuity · Audit your dependencies and set targets · continuity-1

Run a dependency audit of every outside service

List every service from outside the estate that you rely on today and decide what replaces it when it stops. This is the map for everything else in this module and shows which other modules carry each gap.

How

  1. Walk through a normal week and write down every outside service you touch: grid power, mains water, fuel deliveries, gas bottles, mobile and internet, card payments and ATMs, rubbish collection, post and parcels, police, fire, ambulance, hospital and pharmacy, school, shops and supply chains.
  2. For each one, write three columns: what it does for you, what replaces it on the estate, and which module covers that replacement (power, water, sanitation, thermal, food, waste, safety, comms, medical, secure, living).
  3. Look for hidden links. CISA's resilient power guidance warns about common-mode failures and indirect dependencies, such as backup systems that need the same fuel, the same phone line or a contractor who cannot reach you.
  4. Mark each dependency red (no replacement yet), amber (partial or untested) or green (replaced and tested).
  5. Ask neighbours which services they lean on. The UK Be Ready campaign suggests swapping contact details and finding out who may need extra help.
  6. Keep the audit as a living table in your house file and revisit it at each annual drill (continuity-24).

Do these first

Sources

  1. Ten Steps of Resilient Power. US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), accessed 2026-11
  2. Build a kit. Ready.gov (FEMA), accessed 2026-11
  3. Get prepared for emergencies. UK Government Prepare / Be Ready campaign, accessed 2026-11
  4. Community resilience: resources and tools. UK Cabinet Office (GOV.UK), accessed 2026-11

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