Shelter, Evacuation & Mobility • MOBILITY PLAN
72-Hour Go Bag List: A Practical Evacuation Checklist
A 72-hour go bag is a bridge between leaving home and reaching somewhere safer. It should cover the first three days without assuming that every road, shop, charger, toilet or network will work normally.
The immediate answer
Water, essential medication, medical information, identification, weather protection and a reliable light source come before comfort. Add compact ready-to-eat food, a power bank, cables, basic first aid and hygiene supplies. If you use glasses, hearing aids, mobility aids or other essential equipment, those needs belong near the top of the list.
Use a layered water plan
Carrying three full days of water for several people may be impractical, so combine a modest immediate supply with a plan for safe resupply. Never assume a random stream, puddle or public tap is safe. In a real evacuation, follow official advice about water quality and distribution points. Pack clean containers and know their capacity.
Build food around zero cooking
Choose foods your household already tolerates and that can be eaten without heat. High-energy snacks, tinned or pouched food with an easy opening method and simple staples are more useful than elaborate survival meals that require water, fuel and preparation. Rotate them into normal use before they expire.
Add a communications layer
Include a charged power bank, charging cable, small battery or wind-up radio if available, paper contacts and written meeting points. Agree in advance who makes decisions if household members are separated. A bag full of equipment cannot solve confusion about where people should meet.
Dress for the route, not the forecast app
Pack a warm layer, waterproof outer layer, spare socks, practical footwear where possible, gloves and a hat according to season. Weather exposure becomes a problem quickly when transport stops, queues are long or shelter is basic. Keep one change of clothing compact rather than trying to pack a wardrobe.
Finish with the household-specific layer
Add infant supplies, pet equipment, accessibility items, sanitary products or other needs that generic lists miss. The final checklist should match the people who actually live in your home. Repack it after every use and review it at the start of summer and winter.
Use one checklist for people and another for equipment
A bag list should include actions as well as objects. Account for every household member, confirm medication, check the destination, lock the property if safe, switch off utilities only if instructed or necessary, and tell a trusted contact where you are going. The best bag cannot compensate for leaving without knowing whether everyone is actually coming with you.
Keep the pack weather-ready
A summer kit and winter kit should not be identical. Review insulation, sun protection, rain gear, spare socks, gloves and hats as the seasons change. Weather exposure can become the dominant risk during long queues, walking detours or temporary shelter. Clothing that packs small but works in real local conditions is more useful than fashionable outdoor gear never tested outside the house.
Audit expiry dates and batteries on a fixed schedule
Tie the go-bag check to a recurring household event such as the clocks changing or the first weekend of spring and autumn. Replace expired food, test torches, recharge power banks and update documents and contacts. A forgotten bag slowly turns into a collection of flat batteries, old addresses and unusable snacks, which is exactly the opposite of preparedness.
Design the bag around weight as well as contents
A theoretically perfect bag is useless if the person carrying it cannot walk with it. Pack the heaviest essentials low and close to the back, remove duplicate gadgets and test the loaded bag on a short ordinary walk. Children, older adults and people with mobility limits need a load matched to what they can safely carry.
Where several adults are travelling together, split shared items rather than putting every critical object in one pack. That way one lost or damaged bag does not remove all the water, charging or first-aid capability.
Keep a grab list for things that cannot live in the bag
Some items are used every day or require special storage: current medication, glasses, phones, refrigerated products, mobility equipment and certain documents. Keep a short paper reminder attached to the bag so the household knows what still needs collecting if departure happens quickly.
The list should be short enough to complete in a few minutes. If it contains twenty-five last-minute tasks, the bag is not genuinely ready.
Plan what happens after seventy-two hours
The bag buys time; it does not make a household self-sufficient. Know where likely destinations are, how prescription needs would be continued and who the household would contact if temporary shelter lasts longer than expected. Keep enough cash or payment flexibility for small essential purchases without assuming shops or card networks will always be available.
Thinking beyond day three helps prevent the bag becoming a collection of gear with no wider evacuation plan attached to it.
Keep one bag per capability where possible
If several people can carry safely, spread critical functions across them rather than putting every essential item into one master bag. One person can carry water and food, another documents and first aid, another power and communications. The exact split should remain simple and sensible.
This creates redundancy and keeps individual loads manageable. If one person has to separate or one bag is lost, the household does not lose every important capability at once.
Keep the bag easy to inspect
Use a one-page inventory showing what belongs in each pocket or pouch. During seasonal reviews, work down the list instead of emptying everything randomly. This makes it easier to spot expired food, missing cables or borrowed items without turning maintenance into a large job.
A bag that is simple to inspect is much more likely to remain genuinely ready over several years.
Replace anything used from the bag as soon as normal conditions return so readiness does not quietly erode.
Keep the heaviest items low and stable so the bag remains comfortable enough to carry when walking is unavoidable.
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Build this topic into a wider plan, then see how the same dependency could fail in an AI-collapse scenario.
Evidence desk
This guide uses general UK emergency-preparedness principles. AI-driven mass disruption is scenario framing, not a claim that such an event is happening or inevitable.
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