I'd have my wife grab her meds and laptop; I'd grab my meds, laptop and fire safe. My BOB is in the car; anything else we need is in her purse or my wallet.

First thing I would do is get the wife moving having her get important documents, photos, med's etc., Also the pets. While shes doing that I would be hooking up the trailer which is fully stocked and ready to go. Next thing would be to grab all the extra food and water. My truck and her SUV already have our BOB bags in them, my truck also has a tent, sleeping bags food & water and heat in case we have to ditch the trailer. I like to have all the bases covered. Truck also has extra gas in it, tools and fluids. Truck and SUV always have at least half a tank of gas never less, I also carry a hose and fuel pump in case I need to get more. Secure house and let other family members where we're going.Last but not least weapons and ammo.

Living here in SoCal, I've thought about this once or twice. I live in one county, and my ranch is in another, so that adds a complication. The ranch has already burned once. Evacuating the horses is the biggest issue.

Otherwise, from home:

1. Family, including dogs.
2. Documents (firesafe, laptop, PC chassis, plus I have offsite backups).
3. Pictures/home videos - well, as many as I could load.
4. A little food, as much water as I can (don't forget dog food).
5. A few clothes.
6. Tent, sleeping pads, sleeping bags.
7. Personal hygiene stuff.
8. Cash.
9. Cell phones/chargers.
10. If there's any room, a couple of my better guitars.

In about that order. As said, evacuation is different than bugout. We wouldn't likely be living off the land. Not in SoCal if there was a major earthquake or fire event.

BTW, whoever asked about why computers? Most of our financial documents are on the computer. We run our business from home.

The guitars are "just 'cuz". I like them, and they'd be hard to replace.

Kevin B.

1. DW puts kids and pets into car while I grab contents of safe (money/important papers/IDs) and "crash bag".
2. DW grabs notebook computer and networked harddrive while I grab medicine.
3. DW grabs spare clothes while I grab food/water supplies.
4. DW grabs emergency binder while I grab guns.

Explanation #1: crash bag
This is a rolling duffle that holds several fleece sleeping bags, toiletry kit, ear plugs, books, deck of cards, radio, and flashlight. It is gear for crashing at a friend's/relative's place or worst case an emergency shelter. Similar to a BOB.

Explanation #2: guns
I'd grab these mainly to keep them out of the hands of looters.

-Blast

Well, as a computer engineer and an author (trying to get published), losing my computer would as bad if not worse than losing things like my photo albums and some personal momentos. Fortunately, all the important stuff is on an external hard drive, and that has a padded hard case that does double duty as a foot rest under my desk. I've got a spare power cable for it in the case, so it a matter of pulling out the case, pulling out the power and data lines from the drive, and closing it up.

I'd probably want to break someone if Lazarus (my computer) got cremated, becuase he's emotionally a part of me, but if that drive is with me it isn't a total loss. And as it was part of Lazarus, he will survive, I will rebuild him. (There is a reason he's called Lazarus. He's been rebuilt before.)


Along with the hard drive, toss the sleeping bags and some clothes in a tote. Add a pillow case full of ammunition, and put holstered pistols in a second one. Pour the knife drawer into a third, other than my Ka-bar which goes on my belt. Grab the rifles, my axe, the water container and the gas cans. If I've still got time on that 30 minutes, fill a tote with medical supplies and food. Then start grabbing off the reference shelf until the second tote and my old book bag were full.

If I move home... yeah, the first half of that thirty minutes will be spent tracking down cats if I'm the only one there. Fortunately, they come when my mother calls, so I help her load them in her car, and we split up. The drill has always been once you are loaded, get out and head for the designated rally point. Everyone links up there.

I evacuate via The Nuclear War Survival Skills; Chapter 4: Evacuation guidelines as quoted here:

A.THE MOST NEEDED ITEMS

Category 1. Survival Information: Shelter building and other nuclear survival instructions, maps, all available small battery-powered radios and extra batteries, a fallout meter such as a homemade KFM (see Appendix C), and writing materials.

Category 2. Tools: Shovel, pick, saw (a bow- saw is best), ax or hatchet, file, knife, pliers, and any other tools specified in the building instructions for the shelter planned. Also take work gloves.

Category 3. Shelter-Building Materials: Rain- proofing materials (plastic, shower curtains, cloth, etc.) as specified in the instructions for the type of shelter planned Also, unless the weather is very cold, a homemade shelter-ventilating pump such as a KAP, or the materials to build one (see Appendix B).

Category 4. Water: Small, filled containers plus all available large polyethylene trash bags, smaller plastic bags and pillow cases, water-purifying material such as Clorox, and a teaspoon for measuring.

Category 5. Peacetime valuables: Money, credit cards, negotiable securities, valuable jewelry, checkbooks, and the most important documents kept at home. (Evacuation may be followed not by nuclear war, but by continuing unstable nuclear peace.)

Category 6. Light: Flashlights, candles, materials to improvise cooking-oil lamps (2 clear glass jars of about 1-pint size, cooking oil, cotton string for wicks (see Chapter 11, Light), kitchen matches, and a moisture-proof jar for storing matches.

Category 7. Clothing: Cold-weather boots, overshoes, and warm outdoor clothing (even in summer, since after an attack these would be unobtainable), raincoats and ponchos. Wear work clothes and work shoes.

Category 8. Sleeping Gear: A compact sleeping bag or two blankets per person.

Category 9. Food: Food for babies (including milk powder, cooking oil, and sugar) has the highest priority. Compact foods that require no cooking are preferred. Include at least one pound of salt, available vitamins, a can and bottle opener, a knife, and 2 cooking pots with lids (4-qt size preferred). For each person: one cup, bowl, and large spoon. Also, a bucket stove, or minimum materials for making a bucket stove: a metal bucket, 10 all- wire coat hangers, a nail, and a cold chisel or screwdriver (see Chapter 9, Food).

Category 10. Sanitation Items: Plastic film or plastic bags in which to collect and contain excrement; a bucket or plastic container for urine; toilet paper, tampons, diapers, and soap.

Category 11. Medical Items: Aspirin, a first-aid kit, all available antibiotics and disinfectants, special prescription medicines (if essential to a member of the family), potassium iodide (for protection against radioactive iodine, see Chapter 13), spare eyeglasses, and contact lenses.

Category 12. Miscellaneous: Two square yards of mosquito netting or insect screen with which to screen the shelter openings if insects are a problem, insect repellents, a favorite book or two.

B.SOME USEFUL ITEMS (To take if car space is available):

1. Additional tools.

2. A tent, a small camp stove, and some additional kitchen utensils.

This translates to me as:
1) Plan A & Plan B for evacuating and where to go.
2) Hand tools (includes mechanical as well as shovels, axes, saws, etc).
3) Camping Equipment.
4) Water and the means (tablets in BoB) to purify water.
5) Money, valuables, financial records (includes laptops).
6) Lighting.
7) Seasonal and non-seasonal clothing.
8) Sleeping gear (includes air mattresses, foam pads, sleeping bags and blankets, etc.).
9) Food (including anything special for individuals in my party) and the means in which to cook and clean (camp stoves, messkits, pot holders, utensils, etc).
10) All personal hygiene and sanitation needs (includes porta-potty, buckets, disposable diapers, chucks, wipes, etc).
11) Medical items include ALL prescription & non-prescription meds, special equipment (special needs), FAK's, etc.
12) Miscellaneous (includes ALL weapons and ammunitions, spare gasoline, generator, BoB's, etc). If time and space allows,
I'll grab the photo albums and some of the photos off of the walls (the really old family types).


Basically, all of these things are ready to go. DW gets the kid's (includes the dogs & cat) clothing and needs together with their BoB's; while I get the equipment loaded into the vehicles.

Yes, we have tailored checklists for Evacuating and No, I don't see a difference between evacuating and Bugging Out except for the amount of time we may be gone, if we are returning at all.

Geez Sam, we could be related...

I have much the same list now.


Skip the computer, grab the portable hard drive, which has copies of all the data files anyways. I might grab some of the irreplacable pics, like the original of Calamity Jane, and such. The rest is either stuff we can throw into our luggage, or already packed, or not necessary for bugout, even with 30 minutes to spare. In fact, that may be too much time, and I would likely overload trying to take just one more thing...

I saw the link to this list and while it looks good, IMHO some of the items are in the wrong order.

These external/portable hard drives are becoming a big problem, people are relying on them too much and they tend to be more fragile. The biggest problem I see would be plugging a drive with my whole line on it into someone elses Windows PC and getting it messed up from a virus/or OS problem.
Those can be used for backups but you really should have backups on a different type of media that the primary.
I'd much rather take my laptop so I don't have to worry about finding someplace that I can feel safe plugging my drive into. I know my laptop is going to be safe.

I'm starting to prioritize on what I really could and couldn't do without. I can't think of much that isn't replaceable other than my pictres and data on my laptop. I copy it to an external drive every so often, I need to put my server back together so I can get my automated rsync going again.
What else absolutly can't be replaced, even things like your social security card you can request replaceents.