Basic urban go-bag

[atarango1]

I’ve been thinking that I need to put together a basic urban evacuation or go-bag to have on hand in case of emergency. What with all the hurricanes and having friends’ homes threatened by fire, it seems like it would be a good idea to pull something together. So I’ve been reading up on it and boy does everyone recommend a million things. Many of the websites I’ve visited are major survivalist folk, and frankly that won’t be me. I just want to put together a basic evacuation kit I could take with me on my way to a shelter or out of my home (if everything truly goes to hell and it becomes all like The Road, I don’t have the skills needed to survive in the wilderness anyway.) I keep emergency supplies in my home including food and water at all times (habit left over from my overprepared So Cal earthquake prone childhood) so this bag would be considered separate from my in home emergency kit.

So since I’ve now spent a few hours looking at websites and they all recommend different things, I feel like I should turn to the collective wisdom of y’all over random webpages. I want to keep things very light in this bag. Where I live fleeing from flooding is probably the most likely, and I’m looking at this as more of an evacuation bag in case of an emergency.

So for an urban evacuation bag:

Clothing, underwear, a hat, socks.
A light blanket for me, a small blanket for the dog
Basic tolietries (toothbrush, soap, washcloth, sunscreen, lip balm, cream)
Baby wipes
A multi tool
A small flashlight/camping lantern
A really tiny radio (like the kind people used to listen to baseball on)
Extra charging cables
A water bottle or two (fill before you leave)
Some food bars or other small non perishable foodstuffs
Extra cat and dog food for the pets
A small craft project (sounds crazy, but I figure once I’m safe I’ll need something to sit and do. A cross stitch project folded up in a ziplock is really portable and will take up hours while waiting)
My kindle (same reason— again, this isn’t a survival bag, this is an assume I have electricity wherever I get to bag)
Portable charging brick

I figure I have to grab all my pills as I run. I keep those all in one place so they could just be stuffed into a bag. I don’t have any extras to just keep in the bag.
My dog’s pills
A envelope with documents (renters insurance, birth certificate, passport— again, keep those in a place where they can be grabbed and stuffed in bag) and pictures.
Maybe one or two sentimental trinkets I could grab as I ran— like the ridiculous little cross eyed angel figurine my grandma gave me when I was a little girl that I love because she makes me laugh. Or my other grandma’s Virgin of Guadalupe picture she brought with her from Mexico over 100 years ago.
And of course my pets on the way out.

What else should I add (keeping in mind this would be a bag for evacuation, not survival and I want to keep it minimal)

What do you have in your go-bag?

[kieri]

Having grown up in a hurricane and tornado-prone area and having endured many an evacuation, I can tell you that the best go-bag is one that's always near you, and is so small that it won't occur to anyone to try and make you leave it behind. Mine is an old crossbody purse that hangs on my bedroom door, although I might upgrade that to my seldom-used SCB at some point. I carry:

- An envelope with copies of my ID documents, recent vaccinations for my dogs, a copy of the title to my car, and other important bits and bobs.

- An extremely basic first aid kit (Pepto, Advil, Neosporin, Band-Aids, stuff like that).

- Spare usb cord, wall charger, and Anker Powercore charger.

- A flash drive with backups of all my important docs, an ancient mini-mp3 player (need my tunes!) and some earbuds.

- A "backup wallet" with an old drivers license, a spare credit card, my passport, and about $300 cash.

- A small Eagle Creek packing cube with spare socks, underwear, and a mini hygiene kit (disposable toothbrush, mini floss, deodorant, folding hairbrush).

- Spare glasses (An older prescription, but close enough to get by for a few days).

- A keychain with small flashlight and assorted multitools. (Gerber Shard and Leatherman PS last time I checked).

It hangs next to my favorite hoodie. My shoe rack is next to it. In the event of a house fire or extremely sudden evacuation, I could have most of what I need to get by on hand with little trouble. (Your actual EDC/purse/laptop bag should also be nearby if possible.

For best results, mix with a few other "modules" located in other places. I keep a PCSB at work with a travel-friendly dress, thick leggings, nice sweater, and decent flats and boots. I keep a ton of survival-y gear, including an extensive first aid kit, warm quick-drying clothing, and old hiking boots in my car, along with survival rations and water.

If you're planning for the kind of event where you think you might have to go to a shelter or leave the area for some time, I wouldn't necessarily pre-pack. I'd make a list and post it somewhere where it can always be found, like an unobtrusive spot on the fridge. I'd make sure that my stuff was organized in such a way that I could pack quickly and efficiently and be out the door in under 15 minutes. My packing cubes are stored next to my clothes. My travel toiletries live full-time in a 3DCOC. My sleeping bag is next to my A45 on my closet shelf, above a folding dog crate. Assorted snack bars are in a basket in my kitchen, above a case of bottled water and next to my shop bags. There's a stuff sack with sample dog foods and treats hanging next to my dogs' leashes. With a comprehensive list, evacuation can be easy. Drop the sleeping bag and a cube of clothing into the A45. Toss in the crossbody bag, the toiletries bag, the bag of dog food, and a shop bag with some snacks and a few bottles of water. Put the backpack on, dogs on their leashes, snag your EDC and the dog crate, and get out.

[AVService]

I have 3 Brain Bags packed and ready most of the time just for this use and as much of my travel is by car I try to ALWAYS have one of them with me while on the road,in this strange time in America you just can never really guess what might happen next?!!!

I think we each need different things in specific to get us through and help find our own comfort level while out of our normal element so there is probably no wrong suggestion to give here but......

I need Glasses so I have the set I wear AND a spare set but I am in trouble probably if I end up without glasses?

I bring Water,Fire and Shelter makings along with enough Food to get me by for a week hopefully should I end up in unfamiliar surroundings with little or no warning at all.

I also carry Comms,Light,Cutting/Chopping,First Aid and Cash just in case.

We can not survive without Water period.

We can also not rely on having Water available or supplied to us as the recent storms have made all too obvious so I carry simple and reliable methods for turning what water I can find into something that I can use. It is not tough to find or carry these items and I don't have experience with them during a time of need but for the small space and weight that they take in the bag they come along all the time.
I use the Sawyer Filter,Lifestraw and purification Tablets in general and I also carry Immodium for obvious reasons too.
I can use a water bottle and filter easily through a filter as I just drink and so far I have survived my testinf with this.

Same for Fire and Shelter and Food!

I prefer MRE items for food as I do not require any extra water to eat them at all.I also don't need to worry about freshness compared to almost anything else and so I am more likely to be ready to just grab and go carrying MRE stuff.

Aside from Food & Water everything else is just "Gravy"!

I have a Desert Bag and Bivy Bag for it to go into,and also a tarp that can be fashioned into a tent overhead.
I have several ways to make fire and also a small portable stove in case I need to boil water and things that I can eat too by just using boiled water.

Basically I am ready to camp anywhere out of the Brain Bags and for me the trick is to just keep one handy all the time and not pilfer from the contents day to day!

Good luck with that one.

I would rather have things I don't need than need things I don't have!

[Traveltech]

Interesting thread with good ideas. Don’t forget to keep foods up to date. I follow the “no pilfer” rule for my home stores but realized recently that most are now suspect, so I’ve replaced.

I live in a snowy climate so I keep a bag in the car with sweatshirt, warm socks, underwear etc., and my latest old shoes. Also an emergency blanket, first aid kit, flashlight, snacks and water.

I don’t have a packed bag in the house but have a list of essential documents and memorabilia taped to my desk cabinet. I include a few family photos, scrapbooks, etc, on this list. Seems foolish perhaps but how many times do we see on the news people sifting through the debris of their home looking for memories. Heartbreaking...

[Kelly S]

We have a "go" bag, but right now it's mostly empty. It's got some freeze-dried food, a camping cookware set, and a small portable cooker with those solid fuel tabs that stink of fish.
There's also a plastic folder envelope in there with copies of our important documents (passport copies, driver's license copies, marriage license), we have a bit of cash in there and multitool. Basic toiletries and a bottle of handsoap.
We're lucky that none of us are on medication.

Honestly, most of what I want/need to take with me for an evacuation is what's in my EDC bag (an s25).
The benefit of our "go bag" is that it's got a really good waist strap and other weight distribution features, it's also considerably larger than my s25.
If we ever needed to evacuate, I'd throw some bottles of water in the go bag, toss in our stash of protein bars from the kitchen cupboard, put my (picky eater) son's snacks in the bag then get jeans/socks/underwear from our dressers and shove that in. If there was room, I'd probably put my edc bag inside the go bag, otherwise I'd have to one of those "bag on the back, bag on the front" scenarios, which would make things difficult.

[wolpertinger]

Here is a fairly basic list from the Red Cross: Survival Kits | Emergency Preparedness Kit | Red Cross

I'd also recommend some cash, like 40$ to get around and you're the hero at any shelter if you have a multiple socket or something to charge multiple phones at once (that's my experience from evacuation situations).

[tebnewyork]

When I lived in San Francisco I kept a kit that came in a bag at the ready. Mine was mostly earthquake readiness but they thought about what you would need for different emergencies and how many people you might have to be ready for.

https://disastersupplycenter.com/col.../survival-kits

[TRD]

We evacuated my parents for due to fire threat about 10 years ago. We had several hours of warning. We took way too long, packed way too much, and packed foolishly. Fast forward to 2017 and I had to leave work in the middle of the day a couple weeks ago to evacuate my injured mom due to California fires threatening her home. I had her packed and out of the house in under 20 minutes. A go bag is great, pack what you can in advance but also keep an index card or small notebook with additional items you’ll need to grab. And keep it updated as things change. The list is key because in the moment you’re never going to think of everything and you don’t want to kick yourself later.

*Fortunately mom’s house was fine both times thanks to our wonderful firefighters and first responders.

[bouncing]

+1 for a Life Straw Water Bottle. In many natural disasters, drinking water is the first thing you need and the first thing that gets compromised.

I've brought that thing with me to many a developing country and avoided getting sick drinking the unsafe tap water.

[amallen]

I hadn't given much thought to emergencies and evacuation as here in the UK evacuations aren't common, and tend to happen only in areas subject to severe flooding. But we had a terrible tower block fire disaster in London back in June and it made me wonder what I would need to take with me if I were in a broadly similar situation.

Obviously if I was in immediate danger I'd just have to pull some clothes on and run, but assuming I had some warning that I'd have to leave my house I reckon I could pack my S25 with enough clothes for four or five days, my plastic folder of important documents, my laptop and toiletries, in about ten minutes - or even less if I didn't bother with packing them neatly and just threw them in. My wife would do the same and we'd bung the cat into her carrier and be out. One advantage of UK evacuations is that you're rarely taken very far away from your home: it's usually just a matter of rendezvousing at a local church hall or school. So I wouldn't need to pack much.

I worked out that in a more extreme situation, such as a house fire, where I might escape with my life but lose everything else, what I'd need most would be the contact details for all the organisations I'd need to deal with: the insurance company obviously, but also the local authority, the bank, the pensions people, the power companies...the list, when I drew it up, went on and on. So I made up a table with contact numbers, my account and customer details, log-in names and passwords, the lot, and I have copies of it on my phone (which lives in my pocket and so would probably be with me when I escaped), on my laptop and iPad, in iCloud and also on an encrypted USB drive stored at my brother's house. With that to hand I could at least begin to put my life back together.