One consideration would be to bullet-proof a wall or room.

Many renters in bad locals remove drywall from the floor to 4 feet up, nail on plywood, and fill with quickcrete between the studs.
Anyone diving for the floor, or asleep in bed, is protected.

Beats sleeping in the bathtub in the 'hood.

I guess it would be helpful to know all your exit options, for example in case of a fire. You should be able to exit with your eyes closed, literaly, if smoke is very thick.
As mentioned earlier, an escape ladder could come quite handy when you need to evacuate by your balconly.

following another great Doug Ritter tip, for last resort water storage (and of course primarily to help keep perishables cold during a power outage) i put as many 1.5L and smaller 16 oz. water bottles in the freezer as i could fit. (i opened them and poured out a tiny bit to account for freezing) it took 'em about 2 days to freeze solid but its nice to know i've not only got some ice blocks but drinking water as well if needed.

I used to stockpile six-packs of the Walmart gallon jugs of water, but I found over the course of a year about half of them leaked. Made a big mess. I still store some but now thay are in Rubbermaid containers and others are in a spare bathtub.

I prefer the big, blue aquatainers now. Gander Mountain sells a filter unit that attaches to the aquatainers spigot (on the inside) so even suspect water can be use, within reason.

-Blast

I don't shop at Walmart, so I'm not sure of the quality of their gallon jugs. I buy Poland Springs from BJs (like Costco). They're slightly more than no-name brand, but since I can't drink the tap water where I live unless it's mixed with Gatorade powder, and I drink a lot of water, it's worth it to me. I usuallu have 2 - 3 cases on hand at a time.

Blast, thanx for the porta-potty tip. I'll be buying one. I've already got most of my preps in the big tupperware boxes. Recently I've purchased 2, 4D batt. LED lanterns from Sportsman's Guide. They're great. 2+ wk.s of light on the low setting, readable light on high. High impact plastic cases that hold the batt.s seperately. Good supplement to my 2, V&O lanterns and Coleman stove, all kerosene fueled. I've got the tools, duct tape, handcrank radio, etc. including flat rubber stoppers, available in most hardware stores, to double seal water in bathtubs when storms threaten. Cartons of Aquablox water and liter bottles of Poland Spring water will round out water storage, along with a First Need Deluxe water purifier. By the way, you can freeze the liter bottles of Poland Spring unopened, without rupturing the bottle. Let's keep this post going, the brain-buzz is really startin to flow.

If your complex has a motorized controlled access gate between the street and the parking lot, you might want to take a peek at the mechanism to see what tools you might need to disassemble it in case of a power outage. We've had to disconnect the arm several times when no one could get out of the complex to go to work.

acropolis5,
i've been wanting to get some aquablox. can you freeze those also without them rupturing? if so, and you can afford it, those would seem like the best water/emergency ice solution.

LED. Yes you can freeze the Acqua-Blox, as well as the smaller foil water packets, without camage. I just double checked my cache before I typed this post.

Use caution when cooking indoors over a portable stove -- in fact, include a warining in the box not to use indoors -- cardon dioxide built-up.\\