What Does Earthquake Store's Emergency Handbook and Survival Guide Cover?

Updated

Earthquake Store's emergency handbook and survival guide is a free planning resource that walks you through creating your own household emergency handbook, with life-saving tips for earthquakes, hurricanes, thunderstorms, power outages, snow storms, fires, tornadoes, floods, and terrorist attacks. It is written for anyone who wants a written plan to protect family, pets, personal property, and home — and it is designed to be used alongside the ready-made kits and gear the site sells, not as a replacement for them. If you already own supplies but have no written plan, or you are building a kit and want to know what to do with it, this is the part of the site aimed at you.

What the guide covers

According to the site, the emergency handbook guidance spans two layers:

Hazard-specific tips. The guide offers survival tips for each of these events:

  • Earthquakes
  • Hurricanes
  • Thunderstorms
  • Power outages
  • Snow storms
  • Fires
  • Tornadoes
  • Floods
  • Terrorist attacks

Protection goals. The stated purpose is to help you protect four things when disaster strikes:

  • Your family
  • Your pets
  • Your personal property
  • Your home

That combination — hazard-by-hazard advice plus a protection checklist — is what makes it a handbook rather than a single tip sheet. You are meant to assemble your own document from it, which is why the site frames it as "create your Emergency Handbook" rather than "read our guide."

How it pairs with the supplies the site sells

The handbook is the planning half; the store is the equipment half. Earthquake Store sells 72-hour survival kits, emergency food and water, survival gear, first aid kits, flashlights with extra batteries, radios, tents, and sleeping bags, along with specialty items such as automatic seismic gas shutoff valves and a portable home firefighting water pump kit. The site's own framing is that the first 24–72 hours after a disaster are critical, and that having the right kit, food, and water "can make the difference between life and death."

A practical way to use the two together:

  1. Read the handbook sections for the hazards that actually apply where you live.
  2. Write down what each section says you need.
  3. Check that list against the kit you own or plan to buy.
  4. Fill the gaps, then store the written handbook with the kit so both are found together.

The site also cites FEMA's recommendation that everyone keep a two-week supply of food and other survival gear, including food that needs no refrigeration, water, a first aid kit, flashlights with extra batteries, and a radio. Treat that as the supply target your handbook plan should account for.

Who it is for

The site says it serves individuals, communities, governments, and businesses with ready-to-use emergency supplies. The handbook guidance itself is most directly useful to:

  • Households building a first plan, especially those with pets or children to account for.
  • Community groups that want a shared reference before distributing supplies.
  • Businesses drafting a basic preparedness document for staff.

If you are an individual or family, start with the hazards in your region and the family/pets/property/home checklist. If you represent a larger group, the same hazard list works as a starting outline, but you will need to add your own roles and contact information.

What it does not do for you

Two limits are worth knowing before you rely on it:

  • It guides, it does not write the handbook. The site's wording is that it "guides you in creating your own emergency handbook." You supply the household specifics — meeting points, pet arrangements, medication lists, utility shutoff locations.
  • It is not a substitute for supplies or for official instructions. The guide sits alongside the kits, and during an actual event you should still follow local emergency management direction.

One practical note: the site's featured product list shows the Quake Alarm marked "Sold out," so if your handbook plan depends on a specific device, confirm availability before you build the plan around it.

A reasonable next step

Pick the two or three hazards most likely where you live, read those sections first, and write the family/pets/property/home answers into a single document. Then compare that document against your current supplies and against FEMA's two-week benchmark. That gives you a handbook you can actually use, and a shopping list that comes from your own plan rather than from a generic kit description.