Emergency kit advice by country: what governments recommend

In late October 2026 a Newsweek map counted 33 countries that advise households to keep emergency supplies, and on 2 November Japan added an urgent request of its own. That sounds dramatic, but the advice itself is ordinary: a few days of water and food, light, a radio, medicine and some cash. The UK's Be Ready campaign, launched on 22 October 2026, asks for 3 days. Below is what each government says, in its own words where it matters.

Why are countries telling people to stockpile?

The Newsweek map that went round in late October counted existing guidance from 33 countries, 17 of them in Europe. It is a tally, not a joint warning, and much of the advice is years old: the US Ready campaign dates from 2003, Germany revised its guide in October 2025 and Sweden has recommended a week since 2020. The reasons governments give are everyday ones: storms, floods, power and water cuts and, in Japan, earthquakes. Some Nordic advice also mentions sabotage and war. The message is the same everywhere: if most households can look after themselves for a few days, help can go first to the people who need it most.

United Kingdom: the Be Ready 3-day (72-hour) kit

Official advice: GOV.UK Be Ready · checked 3 November 2026

The Cabinet Office launched Be Ready on 22 October 2026 as the first stage of a three-year campaign. It asks households to be ready for 3 days of disruption, so help can reach those who need it most. The two key actions are signing up to the Priority Services Register if you are eligible, and keeping 3 days of bottled water and non-perishable food at home.

• Bottled water: 3 litres per person per day for drinking, so 9 litres each for 3 days. More is needed for cooking and washing.
• Non-perishable food for 3 days that needs no fridge or cooking, ideally food you already eat
• Torch and spare batteries (safer than candles), blankets, sleeping bags and warm clothing
• Battery or wind-up FM radio, and a charged power bank
• Cash in coins and notes, printed copies of documents, and a written list of phone numbers and medication
• First aid kit, essential medication, hygiene items, baby formula (ready-to-feed is best) and pet food

Related: the full UK checklist and how much water to store.

United States: Ready.gov, a gallon of water a day

Official advice: Ready.gov · checked 3 November 2026

Ready.gov, the federal preparedness campaign that dates back to 2003, says you may need to survive on your own for several days. Its basic kit:

• Water: one US gallon (about 3.8 litres) per person per day for several days, for drinking and sanitation
• At least a several-day supply of non-perishable food, and a manual can opener
• Battery or hand-crank radio, torch, extra batteries and a first aid kit
• A whistle to signal for help, a dust mask, plastic sheeting and duct tape
• Wet wipes, rubbish bags and ties for sanitation, a wrench or pliers to turn off utilities, local maps, and a phone with chargers and a backup battery

It also suggests cash, copies of documents, prescription medicines and a sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person, and keeping kits at home, at work and in the car.

Japan: at least 3 days, ideally a week

Official advice: Disaster Management Agency · checked 3 November 2026

Japan's new Disaster Management Agency opened on 2 November 2026, and on the same day its minister issued an urgent request to the public. The disasters it names are major earthquakes, including a Nankai Trough quake and one directly under Tokyo, and an eruption of Mount Fuji. It asks households to:

• Store water and food for at least 3 days, and a week if possible
• Allow 3 litres of drinking water per person per day, including water used for meals
• Keep portable toilets, tissues and toilet paper
• Check hazard maps, evacuation sites and routes, and pack a grab bag by the door
• Fix furniture to walls, and get homes built in 1981 or earlier checked for earthquake safety

France: the 72-hour emergency kit

Official advice: SGDSN, Tous responsables · checked 3 November 2026

France's national guide, published in November 2025, says the first 72 hours of a crisis are often the hardest, and asks people to keep an emergency kit somewhere easy to reach. The kit includes:

• Drinking water: 6 litres per person, in bottles
• Non-perishable food that needs no cooking, including baby food and pet food
• Battery radio, torch with spare batteries, candles, a lighter or matches, phone charger and power bank
• First aid kit, medicines and a spare pair of glasses
• Warm clothes and a survival blanket, a multi-tool and a can opener
• Cash, spare house and car keys, photocopies of key documents in a waterproof pouch, and books and games

It suggests checking the kit twice a year and replacing the batteries.

Germany: food and water for 10 days

Official advice: BBK · checked 3 November 2026

Germany's Federal Office of Civil Protection (BBK) revised its guide on 13 October 2025. It says households should ideally be able to look after themselves for 10 days, but that even a supply for at least 3 days helps a lot, and you can build up step by step.

• Water: ideally 2 litres per person per day, of which half a litre is for cooking. For 3 people that is 18 litres for 3 days, or 60 litres for 10 days.
• Food that keeps without a fridge, food that needs no cooking, and food with short cooking times so camping stove fuel lasts longer
• A camping stove or gas grill and fuel, pet food, medicines and hygiene items

The BBK stresses that these are recommendations, not rules: everyone's supply will look different.

Netherlands: the 72-hour noodpakket

Official advice: Denk vooruit (NCTV) · checked 3 November 2026

The Dutch government's Denk vooruit campaign says an emergency kit gets you through the first 72 hours after a disaster or emergency.

• Bottled water: 3 litres per person per day
• Long-life food such as nuts, tinned vegetables and dried fruit
• Battery radio, phone and power bank, torch with spare batteries, candles and matches
• First aid kit, blankets, a whistle, cash, basic tools, hygiene items
• Copies of ID, a list of important phone numbers, and spare house and car keys

It suggests checking the kit every six months.

Denmark: the 3-day emergency food list

Official advice: Danish Agency for Civil Security · checked 3 November 2026

Denmark asks households to manage on their own for 3 days: 3 litres of water per person per day for drinking and cooking, so 9 litres each, plus water for pets. The Danish food agency gives an example shopping list per person for 3 days of food that needs little or no cooking:

It also mentions medicine, first aid, hygiene items, warm clothes and blankets, a battery, crank or solar FM radio, a power bank, a torch and a little cash.

Norway: ready for one week

Official advice: DSB · checked 3 November 2026

Norway's Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB) recommends that as many people as possible are ready to manage on their own for one week, and notes that some preparation is much better than none. Its checklist:

• Clean drinking water in jugs or bottles, and food that keeps at room temperature
• A grill, camping stove or storm cooker
• Warm clothes, blankets, duvets and sleeping bags, matches and candles, and firewood if you have a wood stove
• Torches or head torches and a DAB radio that run on batteries, a crank or solar power
• Medicines and first aid, and iodine tablets for children, adults under 40, and pregnant and breastfeeding women
• Hygiene items, batteries and a charged power bank, some cash and more than one bank card, pet food, and a paper list of phone numbers

Sweden: If crisis or war comes

Official advice: MCF · checked 3 November 2026

Sweden's advice, also set out in its brochure Om krisen eller kriget kommer (If crisis or war comes), asks everyone who can to manage for at least one week with food, water, a radio and heating. It says 72 hours is better than nothing, but the government's recommendation has been a week since 2020. The basic list:

• Bottles and jugs of clean water, and food that needs no fridge or freezer and can be eaten as it is or cooked without water
• A battery, crank or solar radio, torch and head torch with spare batteries
• Camping stove and fuel (best used outdoors), sleeping bags, blankets and warm clothes, matches and candles
• First aid kit and any important medicines, hygiene items, charged power banks, cash
• A paper list of phone numbers, and games, cards and books

Finland: 72 hours

Official advice: 72 tuntia · checked 3 November 2026

Finland's 72 tuntia ("72 hours") advice asks households to be able to cope for 3 days. It says a person needs about 2 litres of drinking water a day, so at least 6 litres each, and that one or two buckets of water per person per day usually covers cooking and washing as well. It also suggests keeping lidded containers for fetching water from distribution points.

Canada: at least 72 hours

Official advice: Government of Canada · checked 3 November 2026

Canada asks people to be ready to be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours. Its kit guidance mentions about 4 litres of water per person per day for drinking, cooking and sanitation, food that won't spoil with a manual can opener, a torch and radio with spare batteries, a first aid kit, a couple of weeks of prescription medicines if possible, some cash, copies of important documents and your emergency plan.

European Union: a 72-hour goal

Official advice: European Commission · checked 3 November 2026

The EU's Preparedness Union Strategy, presented in March 2025, includes developing guidelines so that people can be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours in a crisis. The detailed household lists come from each member country, such as those above.

What this means for a UK home

The advice is strikingly similar everywhere: water first, food you don't need to cook, light, a radio that works without the internet, medicines, cash and paper copies of the important things. The main difference is how long. Our suggestion: follow GOV.UK and get 3 days sorted first. If you have the space and budget, building up gradually towards a week, as Japan, Norway and Sweden suggest, gives you extra margin. Buy a little at a time rather than all at once.

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