After looking through this site and the related forums, I have noticed that there are relatively few discussions related to emergency preparations in a big city like New York. Sure, much of the material discussed here is somewhat universal. It would be interesting, however, to get at the real-world emergency planning scenarios needed in a large urban environment.

I've seen a few websites with suggestions for "out of state contacts", "sheltering in place", and "go bags". Manhattan island is populated with millions of people who do not own cars. This summer, for the second time since 9/10/01, thousands of people evacuated New York. They walked for many miles, crossed bridges, etc. to return home. I witnessed first hand countless vehicles going nowhere fast. It comes down to this for me: If I have to leave Manhattan in an emergency (on foot with the family), what good are heavy backpacks filled with the "recommended" go bag inventories?

How do I interpret these lists into something which makes sense for a realistic urban evacuation? Any suggestions? Anything overlooked on the lists?

I've included a few links to the material I'm referring to below.

http://www.nyredcross.org/outreach/beprep_disastersupplieskit.htm

http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/readynewyork/ready_guide.html