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Blackout continuity · Audit your dependencies and set targets · continuity-2

Set autonomy targets: 72 hours, 2 weeks, 3 months, 1 year

Decide how long the estate must run with no outside help, then grow that target in stages. Each stage needs more stock, more spares and more skills.

How

  1. Start with the official minimum. Ready.gov asks for several days of water and food, and the UK Cabinet Office asks households to prepare for about three days of disruption. Treat 72 hours as your first gate.
  2. Compare official targets. They differ because each country plans for different risks.
  3. US (Ready.gov, Red Cross): 1 gallon (about 3.8 L) of water per person per day; 3 days of supplies to evacuate, 2 weeks at home, 7 days of medicines.
  4. Sweden: at least 3 L of water per person per day, and prepare for at least one week.
  5. Norway: manage for a week, with 20 L of water per person and at least 7 days of extra medicines.
  6. Switzerland: at least 9 L of water per person for 3 days of drinking and cooking, plus food for about 1 week.
  7. EU: essential supplies for a minimum of 72 hours.
  8. Sphere humanitarian standard: 15 L per person per day for drinking, cooking and hygiene, and up to 20 L in hot climates or with medical needs.
  9. Use the highest figure that fits your climate and household. A hot arid site needs more water than a cool one.
  10. For comparison, CISA describes facility resilience levels of about 3, 7 and 30 days of supplies, and US health care planners work to 96-hour sustainability. These show how planners step targets up.
  11. 72 hours: grab bags, stored drinking water (Ready.gov: at least one gallon, about 3.8 L, per person per day), torches, radio, cash, a full fuel can, first aid kit.
  12. 2 weeks: estate systems carry the load (solar, tank water, pantry). Add generator fuel for your critical-load runtime, filter and fuse spares and a written manual fallback for each system.
  13. 3 months: a rotating fuel stock within legal limits, a spares register covering every system, a working garden and stored staples, a firewood stock and a community mutual aid plan.
  14. 1 year: most calories from the land and long-term stores, a second spare of every critical part, skills trained in at least two household members and a community exchange network.
  15. Write the target you have actually reached on your dependency table. Do not claim a tier until a drill has proven it.

Sources

  1. Build a kit. Ready.gov (FEMA), accessed 2026-11
  2. Determine water needs. Ready.gov (FEMA), accessed 2026-11
  3. Households encouraged to take small, simple steps to stay prepared in an emergency. UK Cabinet Office (GOV.UK), accessed 2026-11
  4. Ten Steps of Resilient Power. US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), accessed 2026-11
  5. Utility failure tip sheet: fuel. US HHS ASPR TRACIE, accessed 2026-11
  6. Survival kit supplies. American Red Cross, accessed 2026-11
  7. If crisis or war comes (Swedish national brochure, municipal edition, autumn 2024). Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency content, published by Linkoping Municipality, accessed 2026-11
  8. Basics of home emergency preparedness: prepping for at least a week. Swedish Agency for Civil Contingencies (MCF), accessed 2026-11
  9. Frequently asked questions about self-preparedness. Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB), accessed 2026-11
  10. Emergency supplies. Swiss Federal Office for National Economic Supply (BWL), accessed 2026-11
  11. EU Preparedness Union Strategy to prevent and react to emerging threats and crises (26 March 2025). European Commission, accessed 2026-11
  12. Sphere Handbook: water supply standard (interactive edition). Sphere Association, accessed 2026-11

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