Free tools
Tools for anyone, free forever
Calculators, guides and documents you can fill in and download. No account needed.
Calculators
Emergency water calculatorHow much water to store for your household, for as many days as you choose.Backup power calculatorSize a generator or battery for the things you need to keep running in an outage.Appliance running costWhat an appliance costs to run a day, a month and a year at your electricity rate.Heat index and wind chillThe National Weather Service formulas, with the danger level for each result.Which plan do I need?Your calls, cities and archive needs, matched to the plan that covers them.
Documents
Public records request letterFill in five fields and download a ready-to-send request under FOIA, California's CPRA or your state's law.Building emergency contact sheetA fill-in sheet for a building: utilities, shut-offs, managers and emergency numbers, as a spreadsheet.Household or building emergency planA plan you fill in once: meeting places, contacts, shut-offs, who checks on whom.
Guides
Emergency supply kit checklistReady.gov's basic disaster supplies kit for your home: water, food, radio, light, first aid and more, as a checklist you can tick and download.When the power goes outWhat to do in the first hour, how long food lasts, and running a generator safely.How to find any public recordPlace, shelf, publisher: the method behind SOS.city, and what to do when the record isn't published.How to read a dataset before you trust itSix things to check on any public dataset: publisher, coverage, update rate, last update, licence and location.Building readiness for property managersAlerts, shut-offs, contacts and tenant notices, set up before you need them.
From the store
The field guides
Printed and digital kits for grid-down, 72-hour and go-bag readiness, made to work with no power or signal.
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