Disaster Response Equipment Checklists

Here are some examples of checklists you can use to gather equipment and supplies when responding to an emergency or a disaster. The non-italicized parenthetical notes on these lists do appear on my actual checklists, and serve to either remind me to take some special action, or to remind me of the contents of some pre-packed items. The italicized parenthetical notes with the shaded background were added to these examples to explain or clarify individual list items.

Some items are not listed because they are normally kept in my car, such as a jacket, hard hat, eye protection, work gloves, high-visibily traffic vest, umbrella, road flares, a power cord for my handheld radio, etc. Likewise for items I normally carry with me, like a copy of my amateur radio license, medical insurance card, a Swiss Army pocket knife, a miniature LED squeeze light, etc. An exception is my identification card from the agency I serve — even though I do carry it in my pocket, it's so important that I put it on the list anyway.

There are several things to think about when you are putting together your checklist:

  1. Arrange the items on the list according to where things are located in your home.
  2. Figure out in advance what bag or container you'll use to carry everything that's not pre-packed.
  3. Consider the nature of the different types of emergencies you may be called on to respond to (i.e., how much time you'd have to gather things, whether you'd be able to return home later, etc.) and think about what you'd need to take with you in different situations.
  4. Identify your must-have items in case you don't have enough time to grab everything you'd like to.