I'm surprised no one has mentioned a flashlight. Disasters happen at night as well. My EDC pocket flashlight is a tiny ARC-AAA flashlight attached to a whistle. I carry it separate from my keyring. I also carry a SureFire G2 Nitrolon in my briefcase. It's compact, durable and bright.

I suspect the bridge collapse would have been much worse after dark, for several reasons.

First, the construction crew would have been gone and traffic would have been moving at a higher speed. That might have allowed more cars to drive off the edge before they realized the bridge was out. The saving grace here was that due to the way the bridge approaches collapsed I don't think the drop-off would have been directly into the water.

Second, in darkness the survivors would have had a much harder time moving to safety and being spotted by volunteer rescuers and first responders. The idea of drifting down a river in the dark scares me. I used to scuba dive at night in Hawaii. I always carried several primary and backup lights along with an underwater strobe as an emergency backup.

Finally, there is the issue of panic. The emergency is bad enough, but not being able to see what's around you so you can move to a safe location can cause people to do stupid things.

I like Susan's idea of a gallon of water and a rope, it's multi-purpose. If the emergency is dehydration, you can drink the water. If the emergency is needing to throw the rope you can use it as she described.

Dennis (the Menace)