When the power, water or network stops, the first 72 hours are yours.
Storms, floods and blackouts don't announce themselves — and when something big happens, emergency services go where lives are in danger first. That's why EU and national guidance now asks every household to manage on its own for 72 hours. Most homes can't last one evening. Yours can, after one afternoon of very boring shopping.
This is not doomsday prep. No bunkers, no stockpiles. It's the same logic as a spare tyre and a smoke alarm: a small, one-time effort that turns a dangerous night into an inconvenient one.
Why 72 hours, and why everything stops at once
Modern comfort is a chain: electricity runs the heating pump, the payment terminals, the phone masts, the fuel pumps, the water pressure in tall buildings, the cash machines. One broken link — a storm, a substation fire, a cyber incident — and several fail together. The pattern in real European outages is always the same: it's not the disaster that hurts most homes, it's three days of improvising.
The good news is the flip side: the overwhelming majority of emergencies are local and short. Prepare for 72 unglamorous hours and you've covered almost everything that will realistically happen to you.
The kit: tick it off, keep it in one box
Everything below fits in one crate in a closet. Your progress is saved on this device — come back as you gather things.
Know before you need it
📻 How official news reaches you
Government emergency alerts arrive on every phone in the area — no app needed. Don't dismiss them unread.
When masts are down: battery radio, regional emergency broadcaster.
Official emergency websites and accounts — decide now which ones you trust, not during the chaos (rumours flood social media in every crisis).
📱 Family plan (agree it tonight, it takes 10 minutes)
Texts beat calls when networks are overloaded — a text queues and gets through; calls just fail.
Pick one out-of-area contact everyone reports to (aunt in another city). Local links fail together; distant ones survive.
Pick a meeting point if home is unreachable, and a second one outside the neighbourhood.
The blackout playbook
Do
Check your breaker box, then look outside: neighbours dark too? Then it's the grid — get the radio out.
Keep fridge and freezer closed: a closed fridge holds ~4 hours, a full freezer up to 48.
Unplug sensitive electronics; leave one lamp on so you notice when power returns.
Check on elderly neighbours early — stair lifts, oxygen machines and fridge-stored medicines all run on power.
Gather in one room in winter; layers, blankets, close the doors.
Never
Never run a BBQ, camping stove or generator indoors — not in the garage, not on the balcony by an open door. Carbon monoxide is invisible, odourless, and kills quietly in every real blackout.
Don't leave candles burning unattended or near curtains — use the LED lights from your kit.
Don't call the emergency number to ask when the power returns — it blocks the line for real emergencies. Use the radio and the grid operator's channel.
Carbon monoxide is the blackout's real killer. Any flame indoors without ventilation — charcoal, petrol, gas — produces it. Headache, dizziness and nausea in more than one person at once means: out, into fresh air, immediately, then call 112.
Water: the 72-hour math
3 litres per person per day covers drinking and a minimum of hygiene — so a family of four needs about 36 litres for three days. It sounds like a lot; it's two shopping bags of bottles that keep for years.
If a "boil water" notice is issued: bring water to a rolling boil for one minute before drinking, cooking, brushing teeth or making ice. Coffee machines and ice cubes count — they don't get hot enough.
If supply may fail soon (announced outage, flood coming): fill the bathtub and every large pot. Tub water is for flushing and washing, not drinking.
Hidden reserve: your water heater/boiler tank holds drinkable litres; know where its drain tap is.
If you must leave: the grab bag and the rules
Sometimes staying is wrong — a flood order, a gas leak, a fire nearby. Keep a small bag ready so leaving takes two minutes, not forty:
Documents bag (from your kit), medicines, phone + power bank, cash, keys, water bottle, warm layer, and the paper number list.
Turn off gas, water, and electricity at the mains if instructed and safe; lock up; leave a note or message where you went.
Flood rules that save lives: never walk through moving water above your ankles — 15 cm can knock an adult down. Never drive through flooded roads: 30 cm of water floats a car, and most flood deaths happen in vehicles. Move up, not out, if water rises fast.
The quiet one: heatwaves
Heat kills more people in Europe than storms and floods combined — quietly, indoors, mostly people over 65 who "didn't want to make a fuss". The playbook is cheap and works:
Do
Run the house like a submarine: shutters, blinds and windows closed through the hot hours; open everything at night when outside air is cooler than inside.
Drink before you're thirsty; a glass of water every hour. Alcohol and coffee don't count.
Move activity to morning and evening; the coolest room becomes the living room.
Check daily on older people living alone — heat deaths happen behind closed curtains, and the people at risk are the last to complain.
Don't
Never leave children or pets in a parked car, not for minutes — the interior climbs to lethal temperatures in a quarter of an hour.
Don't point a fan at yourself in air hotter than ~35 °C without also drinking and misting — it can heat you instead of cooling.
Don't wait for "real" symptoms: confusion, dizziness or hot dry skin in a heatwave is an emergency — cool actively and call 112.
The drill: 14 situations
A kit helps only if your first instincts are right. Twelve realistic moments — a dark house, a phone alert, a flooded street. Pick what you'd do; every answer explains the why.
The fridge card
Print the checklist and stick it inside a cupboard door — it doubles as the family plan reminder.
Our 72-hour kit — one box, checked twice a year
Water 3 L × person × 3 days
No-cook food, 3 days + opener
Medicines + paper dose list
Battery/wind-up radio
Flashlights + batteries
Power bank (charged)
Cash, small notes
Document copies + USB
First-aid kit
Blankets / warm layers
Wipes, bags, toilet paper
Matches, whistle
Numbers on paper
Pet supplies
Cards or board game
Texts beat calls · Out-of-area contact: __________ · Meeting point: __________ · Never a flame indoors without ventilation · Ready for 72