I have to say I that, as a newbie, I appreciate all the info and debate on this topic. Most of the other sites I visited were focused on hard-core, Armageddon, end of civilization scenarios. It is great to find a place that offers more practical information for the rest of us "Sheep," not just for "Sheepdogs."

A few weeks ago my department moved from a low-profile office building in an upscale suburban town only 15 minutes from home, to a huge, 40-story skyscraper in a major city that takes me 90 minutes by car and train each way. So my previous plan of keeping an emergency kit ready at home needed some adjustment.

My first reaction was to stuff enough tools and supplies into a daypack with my laptop and drag that back-and-forth every day. I'm doing this, but at 30 pounds and who knows how many cubic inches, I'm not sure all the Tylenol I could carry would help me make it home. Even if I could catch, gut and cook a fish or a squirrel or, more likely, a pigeon, I'm not sure that eating an animal that lives in an inner city or polluted river will aid in my survival, and I'm not sure I could find much dry wood to saw or hack for a campfire. Plus, as others have pointed out, a stuffed daypack will draw some attention and, if I have to go on-foot, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't make it through some of the unsavory neighborhoods I'd have to cross during the first 10 miles of my trek.

So now I'm adjusting my kit to try carry only the most essential items. I figure that with careful attention to purpose, I can carry 100% of what I would need to deal with 95% of possible disaster scenarios in one or two pockets. For the other 5%, I can keep bulky/heavy items in my desk with duplicates in my car, and grab them as appropriate before evacuating the disaster or use them for shelter-in-place. Then my biggest exposure would be when I visit other buildings traveling by foot or mass transit.

Some comments on other postings from experience:
  1. Make a clear copy of the first page of your passport (the one with your photo and information on it) on one side of some heavy paper, and your driver's license and insurance ID on the other. Print your emergency medical (blood type, allergies, meds, contact lenses) and emergency contact numbers along the borders in red ink. Laminate this with 3/4" excess plastic on one side where you can punch a hole and run a lanyard through. It might not be accepted as positive ID, but it should serve in an emergency and it will help you get replacement ID faster than if you have nothing. And if you are found unconscious the medics will have some basic information.
  2. Lots of companies make ID holders that go around your neck and can hold a passport. Some of the military/law-enforcement focused companies have an elastic strap on the back for pens, so you could easily put a small flashlight like the Fenix L0D, pen knife like the Victorinox Recruit, a Sharpie Marker and a USB memory key (see next). The Maxpedition Traveler seems to be a good, although expensive option. I would also stick my laminated ID card, emergency cash and spare debit card in the pouch and then put my work ID card over top so, through the window, all you would be able to see is my work ID. Carry it inside your shirt when you're in hostile territory and you might get to keep it when the more obvious items are "confiscated."
  3. Carry your medical information on a USB memory key. There are outfits that sell memory keys specifically for this purpose, but you can use any memory key as long as you label it clearly. Some doctors will help you load and update the data, but for the most part you need to do it yourself with notes, scans of documents, test results, prescriptions, even X-Rays/MRI/Cat Scans if you can get them. But make sure you carefully secure the key to your ID holder or kit so you don't loose it. You can encrypt the data, but then you need to be conscious and coherent to tell the medical personnel how to get to the data. So this is most useful -- but most risky from a confidentiality perspective -- if the data is not encrypted.
  4. A multi-tool is handy in a wide variety of situations, but few of them are important to your immediate survival. They are also bulky, heavy and expensive targets for anyone who might accost you during evacuation. I might keep one in my bag, but a more useful Pocket EDC tool would be a small Victorinox Recruit or similar, with a knife blade (albeit small), can opener and tweezers, or the Victorinox Sportsman, which is a bit thicker but adds an awl, nailfile, and corkscrew (for that all-important bottle of French survival wine).
  5. In a disaster you cannot rely on your cell phone or any of the applets on it (such as GPS/Navigation, radio streams) that depend on either cellular or wifi services to be up-and-running. Cell towers may be destroyed, equipment shacks flooded, communications lines disrupted, power and backup systems fail, or the system can be overwhelmed by calls. I would not plan on relying on just a cell phone for news and information in lieu of a small AM/FM radio. The Sony ICF-S10MK2 is small, light and cheap, and is still available on sites like Amazon.com for around $10.00. I carry a SanDisk Sansa MP3 player with built-in FM radio that I've had for years, with presets for the powerful talk/news stations in my area (plus 16GB of music to listen to, when I'm not worried about running down the 30 hour battery).
  6. A 15g pouch of Celox Clotting Granuals, a couple of non-stick gauze's or a trauma pad, a few band aids and some medical or duct tape looks to me the best an individual can do for self-repair short of a full trauma kit. Initially sold only to military, Celox is reputed to even stop arterial bleeding in a minute. Though expensive and difficult to find, this should improve as the manufacturer has started to focus on US consumer sales now.
  7. A signal mirror might also be handy, not just for signaling, but seeing to repair any head or neck wounds.
I fear I've rambled for too long. Thanks again for the useful info. If there's any interest, I'll post the details on my kit when its finished. Right now I'm trying to figure out what to pack it in without making something myself (my sewing skills leave much to be desired).