How Civilians Can Prepare for War: A Household Readiness Guide | Dr. Marco Ha

Dr. Marco Ha · Author and medical reviewer

Pediatric surgery, trauma surgery, disaster medicine and international humanitarian medicine · Last medically reviewed August 4, 2026

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The goal is not fear; it is preventing several household systems from failing at once

Preparing for war is often reduced to stockpiling or buying specialized equipment. Disaster medicine starts elsewhere: essential services may fail together. Water pressure may fall, elevators and electronic locks may stop, card payments and ATMs may be unavailable, mobile networks may be congested, roads may be controlled, and hospitals may need to reserve capacity for immediately life-threatening illness. The same household plan is useful during earthquakes, typhoons, industrial accidents and major blackouts, so the effort is not wasted even if armed conflict never occurs.

Resilience does not mean remaining completely unaffected. It means finding predictable weak points before the emergency. If the only driver is away, who can assist an older relative? Can the building's gate be opened manually? If children and caregivers are in different districts, where are the primary and backup meeting points? What happens when a person has two days of anticonvulsants remaining, or depends on refrigerated insulin, home oxygen, suction or a powered mobility device? Writing the answers down usually provides more protection than buying unfamiliar tactical gear.

A 2025 analysis of 21,294 household preparedness surveys found that specific shelter and evacuation plans, together with identified information sources, were associated with better preparedness. This observational work was not a trial of wartime survival and was not conducted in Taiwan, so it cannot prove that a checklist prevents a particular outcome. It does support an important planning principle: make routine decisions in advance so that frightened, separated family members have fewer decisions to make under pressure.

Build three systems: household reserves, a go-bag and a family action card

Household reserves and a go-bag are not interchangeable. Reserves support sheltering at home; a go-bag supports rapid movement. The third element is often missed. On a waterproof paper card, list each person's name and photograph, phone numbers, important conditions and allergies, essential medicines, school or workplace, primary and backup meeting points, an out-of-area contact and arrangements for pets. Give every person a copy and leave another with a trusted relative.

Test the plan at least once. Start with an evening power outage. Without using the elevator, find the torch, open the exits, put on shoes and take the correct bag. Then conduct a tabletop exercise in which everyone is in a different place. Who collects a child? Is a text message attempted before movement? What if the first road or bridge is closed? Drills usually reveal unclear responsibility and inaccessible items rather than a need for more products.

Household supplies: prepare for at least one week and rotate what you use

Taiwan's 2025 National Public Safety Guide advises at least a one-week household reserve. A practical starting estimate is approximately three litres of drinking and basic-use water per person per day, adjusted for heat, illness, infant formula, pets and cooking. Do not buy years of unfamiliar food and let it expire. Select shelf-stable items the family normally eats and that require little water or fuel, use them in ordinary life, and replace them before their date passes.

Food should provide usable calories, protein and fibre without creating excessive thirst. Canned foods, ready-to-eat pouches, grains, nuts, crackers and shelf-stable dairy can be combined according to culture and medical needs. Diabetes, kidney disease, swallowing difficulty, food allergy and infancy require an individualized plan. Include a manual can opener, washable utensils or a limited supply of disposables, waste bags and a toilet plan. Portable gas stoves require ventilation and safe fuel storage; never burn fuel in a closed shelter because carbon monoxide and fire can become more immediate threats than the original emergency.

Use headlamps and LED lights as the main source of illumination. Candles create a secondary fire hazard. Keep power banks charged, label cables and verify the real operating time of essential medical devices. A battery radio can receive information when cellular data is unreliable, and small-denomination cash may work when electronic payments do not. Masks, work gloves, tape, hygiene products, menstrual products and a basic first-aid kit should be familiar to the users. A kit filled with professional instruments that nobody can use safely does not add resilience.

Review the reserve every six months. Check food, water, batteries, prescriptions, children's clothing sizes, corrective lenses, hearing-aid batteries and pet supplies. Repeat the assessment after moving, changing jobs or schools, adding a family member, receiving a new diagnosis or acquiring a pet. Readiness is a small recurring management process, not a one-time shopping event.

A go-bag must be light enough to carry safely

Keep go-bags near the main exit in durable two-strap backpacks. “Essential, familiar and portable” is a better rule than “everything that might be useful.” Age, pregnancy, joint disease, fitness and the need to carry a child all change safe load. Test whether the person can descend stairs, walk and keep both hands available. One very heavy family bag creates a single point of failure if its carrier is injured or away.

An adult bag may contain some water and ready-to-eat food, personal prescriptions, copies of identification and health-insurance documents, an emergency contact card, cash, a light, power bank and cables, radio or batteries, whistle, paper and pen, masks, hand cleaner, simple first aid, a warm layer, rain protection, socks and walking shoes. Keep paper and encrypted digital copies of critical documents, but do not place every original, all cash and the only backup in one bag.

Adults should manage the load of young children. An older child can carry an extremely light bag with an identity card, whistle, warm layer and a familiar comfort object. Infant needs include feeding supplies, nappies, wipes, a carrier and clothing. Older adults may need hearing-aid batteries, spectacles, denture supplies, continence products and mobility aids. Pet planning requires a carrier or lead, water, food, waste supplies, vaccination or medication information and owner identification. These are not optional comforts; they make evacuation possible.

Do not add an unfamiliar, illegal or easily misused object. Fuel, blades and medicines must be stored lawfully and safely, and shelters may restrict hazardous items. If a tourniquet is included, choose a quality-controlled device and obtain hands-on training. For an untrained person, learning continuous direct pressure for severe bleeding is a higher priority. Every six months, carry the bag down the stairs and walk for ten minutes. The test will expose excess weight, poor straps and expired supplies.

Prescription medicines: prepare information and continuity, not just tablets

Studies published in 2025 on emergency supply kits and medical preparedness show that owning a kit does not guarantee medical self-sufficiency. Access, cost, health literacy, storage and individualized planning all affect whether a person can continue treatment. People with diabetes, epilepsy, heart or kidney disease, asthma, cancer, psychiatric illness or anticoagulant therapy should ask their regular clinician or pharmacist which medicines must not be interrupted, what reserve is lawful and reasonable, how it should be stored and what to do after a missed dose. Do not duplicate prescriptions, stockpile antibiotics or change doses without advice.

Prepare a one-page medical summary with diagnoses, operations, allergies, medicine names and doses, implants, recent treatment, the regular clinic and emergency contacts. Keep medicines in labelled original containers and rotate dates. For insulin or biologic medicines, ask about allowable temperature ranges, safe cooling and the risk of freezing directly against ice. Dialysis, oxygen, ventilator, suction, tube-feeding and stoma users need device models, power requirements, consumables and alternative service locations in their plan.

Spectacles, hearing aids, batteries, glucose meters and strips, inhalers, emergency allergy medicine, stoma bags, catheters and dressings may preserve function more directly than any tactical item. At least two people should know where they are and how they are used. A printed summary and photographs of labelled medicine packages can help clinicians when the patient cannot communicate, while sensitive digital records should be encrypted rather than posted publicly.

Find shelters and safer locations before an alert

Use Taiwan's official Police Service app, Fire and Disaster Prevention e-app and government maps to identify air-raid shelters, evacuation shelters, relief stations and safer routes near home, work, school and regular destinations. Save offline screenshots and print a simple map. Opening status, capacity and access may change during an event, so identify more than one option and follow current official directions.

Walk the route. Record the time, bridges and underpasses, large glass facades, signs or overhead hazards, and whether wheelchairs or prams can pass. High-rise residents need to know how stairs, fire doors and the building exit work without power. Do not rely on a lift. Schools and workplaces may use shelter-in-place and accountability procedures. Parents should learn how the school will count children, communicate and authorize collection instead of travelling against an alert to retrieve them.

Underground is generally safer than above ground, indoors safer than outdoors, and an interior position away from windows safer than an exposed perimeter, but no site guarantees zero risk. If an official shelter is safely reachable, follow directions. If it is not, enter a robust nearby building, move lower and more centrally, protect the head and neck, and stay away from glazing and objects that can fall. Do not block doors, stairs or vehicle lanes.

What to do when an air-raid alert sounds

1. Stop unnecessary movement: follow the alert, police, fire or civil-defence instructions to the closest available shelter.
2. Do not use lifts: power can fail. Assist children, older adults and people with mobility needs without blocking stairs.
3. Protect head and neck: stay low beside robust cover and away from windows, external walls and unstable furniture.
4. Conserve the phone: use low-power mode and short text messages for non-urgent welfare updates; reserve calls for emergencies.
5. Reassess after the all-clear: look for fire, gas, structural damage, fallen wires and suspicious debris before returning.

Do not use social-media video to infer an attack direction, and do not publish real-time positions of security personnel, rescue routes or the interior of critical facilities. Suspected unexploded ordnance, fragments, drone debris and unknown containers should not be touched, moved or surrounded by onlookers. Increase distance and report through official channels. Geolocation in photographs can also disclose a sensitive position.

An all-clear does not mean every hazard has ended. Check yourself and nearby people, then assess the exit. Obvious leaning, falling material, smoke, flames, gas odour or water near live electricity requires controlled evacuation. Returning for property is not justified. Conversely, running into an exposed street while impacts continue may be more dangerous; the choice to remain or move must follow the actual hazard and authoritative direction.

Plan for network failure: two meeting places, one out-of-area contact and paper cards

Choose a primary meeting place close to home and a backup in another neighbourhood or district. Define exceptions: do not approach a meeting point through fire, a closed bridge or an active alert. Name one relative outside the local area as the common contact. If local calls are congested, each family member sends that person a short update. The action card should explicitly say to shelter first and move only when safe so that reunification does not create new exposure.

Download offline maps, official safety apps and essential documents, while assuming the phone may be flat, lost or disconnected. Keep a radio and know official emergency information channels. A fixed message format—name, time, general location, injury status and next action—uses less power and bandwidth than a video. Avoid publicly sharing exact shelter occupancy, medical resources or safety infrastructure.

Disinformation exploits fear and urgency. Check whether the account is official, whether the date and location match, and whether a second reliable source confirms the claim. Do not open unknown links, scan unsolicited QR codes, install unverified apps or join suspicious Wi-Fi networks. Device updates, strong authentication and backups are part of emergency safety.

The civilian first-aid priorities: scene safety, help, bleeding control, CPR and warmth

Do not create another casualty. An untrained person should not enter an area with fire, collapse, live electricity, weapons or unknown contamination. In a relatively safe area, check response and normal breathing and summon help. During a mass-casualty event, emergency lines may be delayed; use official channels, assign one person to communicate and another to provide basic care.

For external bleeding, apply firm, continuous direct pressure with gauze or cloth and do not repeatedly lift it to inspect the wound. For life-threatening limb bleeding that does not respond to pressure, a trained responder may apply a quality tourniquet, record the time and leave it in place for medical care. Fine cord and wire damage tissue and are poor substitutes. Pale, sweaty, rapidly breathing, confused patients or those with abdominal distension may have internal bleeding that external pressure cannot treat.

If a person is unresponsive and not breathing normally, provide CPR and use an AED according to training. For a burn, leave the heat source, cool with clean running cool water, remove items that are not stuck and cover with a clean dressing. Do not apply toothpaste, oils or food products and do not break blisters. Avoid moving a patient with possible spinal or pelvic injury unless the location remains dangerous. Prevent heat loss while waiting, even in warm weather, because trauma and bleeding accelerate hypothermia.

Hands-on CPR/AED, basic first-aid and bleeding-control courses are more useful than short videos alone. Training should include practice and periodic refreshers. Families with children should learn pediatric differences. Every item in a home kit needs a known purpose and expiry date; civilians should not stock or inject prescription emergency medicines without an individualized medical plan.

Radiological or chemical events: leave exposure, get inside and follow incident-specific advice

For a radiological release or fallout warning, official advice will often emphasize entering a robust building, closing doors and windows, limiting outside air exchange and moving to an interior area. If fallout may be on the body, remove the outer clothing without shaking dust, bag it away from the living area, and wash skin and hair gently with water and ordinary cleanser. Do not scrub until skin breaks. Do not take potassium iodide unless authorities or a clinician direct it; it protects only the thyroid from particular radioactive iodine exposure and has timing, dose and contraindication issues.

When an unknown odour or vapour is followed by several people coughing, tearing, convulsing or collapsing, do not enter the contaminated area. Move away according to official wind and hazard information, notify responders and follow decontamination routing. Potentially contaminated clothing should not enter the clean home or main hospital entrance. Never mix bleach, acids or cleaning agents. Ordinary masks do not protect against all toxic gases; protective equipment must match the agent, fit the user and be supported by training.

No single internet rule can specify distance, antidote or decontamination for every chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear event. Those decisions depend on the material, concentration, wind, time and monitoring. Useful pre-event preparation is knowing how alerts arrive, how to stop outside-air intake, where medicines are and how to keep contamination out of a clean area.

Children, older adults, disability and pets require individualized planning

Children need short, consistent instructions: follow a familiar adult, go to the safer place and do not run home alone. A child with asthma, epilepsy, severe allergy, diabetes or special nutrition needs should have matching plans with caregivers and school. A familiar object, suitable hearing protection or sensory-regulation item can reduce overload. Preparedness should not consist of repeated graphic footage or frightening rehearsal.

Test stair movement and transfer equipment with older or disabled family members. Arrange a second helper or trusted neighbour, not only a sentence that says “family will assist.” Include mobility devices, glasses, hearing aids, batteries and accessible communication. A person using home ventilation, powered suction or oxygen needs a verified battery duration and a plan coordinated with the service provider and clinical team. Specifications on a box are not a substitute for a real power-loss test.

Pets frequently affect whether a household will evacuate. Acclimatize them to a carrier and lead, and store identification, vaccination information, medicine, food, water and waste supplies. Ask in advance about shelter or temporary-care rules. Do not return to a dangerous building during an alert to search for a lost animal. Larger animals and multi-pet households require prior community support.

Psychological readiness: accept fear and return attention to actionable tasks

WHO's 2025 emergency mental-health update notes that anxiety, poor sleep, irritability, fatigue, grief and physical complaints are common. Many improve as safety and routine return; some develop into conditions requiring care. The aim is not to remind the family of war every day. Establish predictable routines, check official news at set times, protect sleep and meals, maintain age-appropriate activity and limit continuous viewing of disturbing images.

Ask children what they have heard, correct errors in short language and say, “I do not know everything, but the adults have a plan and we know where to go.” Do not promise that nothing can happen, and do not use graphic detail or hatred as education. Persistent inability to function, severe panic, self-harm thoughts, major regression or uncontrolled alcohol and drug use warrants professional help; immediate danger requires local emergency services.

A household can appoint one information coordinator. Each update answers only: Are we safe now? What are authorities asking us to do? When will we check again? A ten-minute task—updating the medicine list, charging devices, walking the shelter route or checking a neighbour—restores more control than repeatedly discussing the worst possible scenario.

Community help should preserve scarce professional rescue capacity

Know neighbours without publishing a vulnerable-person list. Privately identify who has first-aid or clinical training, who can translate, who needs mobility assistance or fixed medication, and who lives alone. Roles may include relaying alerts, checking utilities, moving essential supplies, supervising children, giving basic first aid and reporting damage. Untrained residents should not enter collapsed, burning or contaminated areas, and private vehicles should not congest hospital routes without a defined transport role.

Community emergency response, CPR/AED, bleeding-control and basic first-aid training can strengthen local capacity. Exercises should include night-time, power loss, network failure and support for functional needs. Afterward, record specific failures: which gate stayed locked, who missed the notification, and whether the meeting area was accessible. Concrete corrections build resilience better than slogans.

Conflict does not pause childbirth, stroke, myocardial infarction, dialysis, infection or chronic disease. Safe home management of minor problems and continued prescribed treatment can reserve emergency capacity, but severe chest pain, breathing difficulty, altered consciousness and major bleeding remain red flags that require urgent assessment through available official services.

What 2025–2026 evidence adds—and what it cannot prove

Taiwan's 2025 guide separates household reserves from go-bags and includes misinformation, mental readiness, first aid and vulnerable needs. Amberson and colleagues' 2025 household analysis linked specific evacuation and shelter plans with higher preparedness, while a lack of identified information sources correlated with lower preparedness. The work is observational and disaster-focused rather than a Taiwan wartime outcomes study, but it supports prioritizing clear plans and trusted information.

Rumph and colleagues examined emergency kits and chronic-disease self-sufficiency, and Romaine and colleagues described barriers to personal medical preparedness among adults with hypertension. The lesson is that “pack medicine” is not enough: prescription access, storage, expiry, literacy and affordability must be addressed. Pediatric kidney-health and school functional-needs publications similarly support individual plans rather than assuming that every shelter has specialized supplies and staff.

A 2026 study of civilian experiences during the 2025 India–Pakistan conflict and 2025 work on psychological intervention for war-affected children add warning, uncertainty, family separation and sustained stress to the preparedness picture. These studies are region-specific and often qualitative or small. A responsible conclusion is therefore modest: household readiness should integrate supplies, action, health continuity, information and psychological support, and should be updated as official guidance changes.

A four-week household action plan

Place a six-month review in the calendar and update the plan after an address, family or medical change. Quality is not measured by cost. It is measured by whether everyone knows where the supplies are, when to shelter, when to move, how to reconnect and who needs help first.

How evidence is selected, updated and corrected: editorial and sourcing policy.