> How do you go about protecting your main survival items that you
> had to leave in your home when you bugged out?
>SNIP<
> When I return I want my stuff there for me

I think there's a disconnect in your comments. If you are bugging out, I don't think you'll have much to return to. People have mentioned Katrina in this thread, and I think that's a good reference point. People _still_ haven't returned to New Orleans. Long term survival in New Orleans did mean looting for food and clothes for those people too poor to get out. If I have to bug out, my thinking is that there won't be much to return to if I even get to return.

In my area (the San Francisco Bay Area), our emergency officers are telling us that if we have a major earthquake and my hometown is destroyed and burned (likely in an earthquake), don't expect it to be rebuilt. Some rebuilding will be done, of course, but they promise the town will not be restored to its former glory.

I won't get the chance to bug out in an earthquake - we won't know it's coming. If you live in an area where you'll have the opportunity to get out of town, you might expect your home to be destroyed while you're gone; if not, major damage. If not major damage, then some. When you come back, you'll have to wait for insurance claims, building permits (depending on the extent of the damage), and you may not have access to supermarkets, stores, and the like for some period of time.

My personal take is that having any contents left is a surprise. If the emergency lasts as long as Katrina, I expect most people to be hitting the stores for food and supplies, not private homes. But if I've left long term, and people are reduced to breaking and entering so they can eat, I'm not going to complain when I get back. I'll be grateful I had a place to eat and sleep.

Frankly, I expect to be one of the people abandoned in place while emergency services providers try to ship us 18-wheelers full of ice.