Gear,<br><br>You are absolutely right. The moderate earthquake did not result in the need to erect shelter, purify water or certainly procure food. It certainly did disrupt the abilty to get around in the city, shut down cell phone communiations, made our cars inaccessible (in damaged garage), and left many people without adequate clothing, car or house keys, money, ATM cards, credit cards etc.<br><br>This was all more of a big inconvienience than a dire life-threatening emergency. Some people were cold waiting around in the parking lot, but it was a fairly pleasant day, not raining or windy. This was a moderate earthquake. Should we experience the expected large quake, I am not so sure we will fare so well. <br><br>Rescue workers did not arrive at the building within minutes after this moderate quake, I would not expect them to arrive for a long time after a large quake. If we would have had seriously injured people we would have needed, at a minimum the ability to protect them from wind and rain, and possibly needed or wanted "clean" water.<br><br>To me, carrying around a few additional tools to assist in the provision of life sustaining basics is worth the trouble. I consider shelter and water to be the bare minimum that I should cover. Admittedly, a tube tent is certainly not ideal for shelter nor is iodine treated or boiled water an absolute requirement in this scenario....both are just something I have decided to have, along with a whistle, adequate shoes, gloves, knives, flashlite, garbage sack, contact info, etc all which may be more traditional Urban PSK items.<br><br>Certainly the exclusion of certain PSK items may be appropriate in your likely scenarios...I just have not been able to convince myself that fire, treated water or shelter is not going to be necessary in the city in a major disaster.<br>