At a Glance
- California Earthquake Preparedness Month 2026 emphasizes installing the free MyShake app to gain up to 30 seconds of early warning before shaking arrives.
- A complete 72-hour plan requires stockpiling one gallon of water per person daily in food-grade HDPE containers and assembling a trauma-focused kit with tourniquets.
- 10-minute family drills and a written communication plan with an out-of-state contact ensure that protective responses become automatic even when cell service is overloaded.
Your family would not know what to do if you were not there. That is the fear most California parents carry quietly. This Earthquake Preparedness Month, let’s close the gap using family preparedness and warning technology.
Last April 10, 2026, the MyShake app sent alerts to users in the Bay Area seconds before shaking arrived from a regional earthquake. Indeed, every second matters. In that short amount of time, you can drop, cover, and hold on. You can get out of the kitchen or step away from the window.
We now have the technology to warn us about the shake. The remaining question is whether your family has a plan to make those minutes count. This guide covers the four components of a complete family earthquake plan: the early warning system, your 72-hour supply kit, a written communication plan, and a family drill.
Step 1: Download MyShake and Understand What It Does
Image: earthquake.ca.gov
MyShake is a free app from the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, available on both iOS and Android. It connects to California’s ShakeAlert early warning system, which uses a network of sensors to detect the initial wave of an earthquake before the stronger shaking arrives, then pushes an alert to your phone.
The warning time varies based on your distance from the earthquake’s epicenter. Nearby locations may receive only 1 to 5 seconds of warning. Locations farther from the epicenter can receive 10 to 30 seconds or more. That may not sound like much, but FEMA’s own guidance confirms that even a few seconds of warning significantly reduces injury risk when people use that time to take protective action.
Search “MyShake” in the App Store or Google Play, install the free app, and enable notifications when prompted. Governor Newsom’s office highlighted it in the April 10 Earthquake Preparedness Month press release, and Cal OES made it central to the “Don’t Get Caught Off Guard” campaign. If you live in California and do not have it installed, do it now before reading further.
Step 2: Build Your 72-Hour Earthquake Kit
After a major earthquake, you may not have access to running water, working grocery stores, or functional roads for 72 hours or more. FEMA’s standard recommendation is a minimum three-day supply for every member of your household. To prepare for a quake, secure these basic staples first:
Water
Store 1 gallon per person per day, minimum three-day supply. For a family of four, that’s 12 gallons in food-grade containers. Make sure to store it away from direct sunlight and heat sources and replace the supply every 6 to 12 months. Don’t use milk jugs or cardboard juice containers for water storage as they degrade and allow contamination. Commercially sealed water jugs or dedicated water-storage containers are the right choice.
Food
Store no-cook or easy-cook food that your family already eats. For example, granola bars, canned beans, canned fruit, peanut butter, and crackers. Prepare a camp stove or propane burner so you can heat canned soups or cook oatmeal even when the power and gas lines are out. Aim for a three-day supply of about 2,000 calories per adult per day. See our family emergency food storage plan for a practical pantry-building approach without a large upfront investment.
First Aid and Trauma Basics
Earthquakes cause specific injuries such as lacerations from broken glass, crush injuries, and dust inhalation. A standard consumer first-aid kit is not enough. Add a tourniquet (CAT or SOFTT-W, both are available on Amazon for $25 to $35), hemostatic gauze, an Israeli pressure bandage, and a pair of nitrile gloves. Every household member who’s old enough should know how to apply a tourniquet and how to pack a wound with gauze. A 30-minute Stop the Bleed course, available free through the American College of Surgeons, covers both skills.
Additional Kit Items
- Flashlight or headlamp with spare batteries (or hand-crank)
- Portable phone charger, fully charged before an event
- Battery-powered or hand-crank AM/FM radio for emergency broadcast reception
- Dust masks or N95 respirators (minimum 2 per person)
- Work gloves for clearing debris
- Copies of important documents in a waterproof bag
- Cash in small bills (ATMs may be offline)
- Prescription medications, minimum 7-day supply
READ MORE: Medical Supplies: Complete List Every Prepper Should Own
Step 3: Write Your Family Communication and Rendezvous Plan
MyShake alerts everyone in the household when they’re home. But what happens when a major earthquake strikes at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, when your kids are at school, your partner is at the office, and you’re in a meeting downtown? This is the plan most families overlook.
A basic family communication plan has four elements.
- An out-of-state contact: local lines jam after major earthquakes; an out-of-state family member serves as the communication hub for check-ins.
- Two meeting points: one near your home for neighborhood evacuations and one farther away if the neighborhood is inaccessible.
- Each family member’s school or workplace address and phone number should be written down.
- A clear agreement on what to do if you cannot reach each other: go to meeting point one, then two, then contact the out-of-state relay.
Write the information, print it, and put a copy in each family member’s go-bag or backpack.
Step 4: Run a Family Drill
The earthquake family drill covers three scenarios. First, the “Drop, Cover, Hold On” where everyone in the house practices immediately dropping under a table or against an interior wall, covering their neck and head, and holding on until the shaking stops. Second, evacuation from each room where every adult and older child should be able to get out of the house, even if the normal exit is blocked. Walk through the secondary exit from each bedroom. Third, rendezvous practice where everyone walks to your designated meeting point as a family, so everyone knows exactly where it is. In fact, families who have drilled even once respond faster in actual emergencies than families who have only read about preparedness.
Common Mistakes in Earthquake Preparedness
- Having the app but not the plan. MyShake is the trigger, but not the only item you should rely on. The seconds the app buys you are only useful if your family knows what to do with them.
- Storing water in the wrong containers. Milk jugs, juice cartons, and thin plastic bottles are not suitable for long-term water storage. They degrade and allow contamination. Instead, use food-grade HDPE containers or commercially sealed water jugs.
- Relying on phone calls after the event. Cell networks become overloaded within minutes of a major earthquake. Text messages route more easily than calls, so reach your out-of-state relay contact immediately.
- Skipping the trauma kit. A standard first-aid kit is mostly useful for cuts and splinters. An earthquake can produce the kind of injuries, including severe lacerations and crush trauma, that require a tourniquet and wound-packing supplies. Pack these items.
- Treating preparedness as a one-time purchase. Water expires, batteries drain, medications run out. Set a calendar reminder every 6 months to audit your kit, rotate your water supply, and check that every item is still in place and functional.
Your First Step After Reading This
Download MyShake right now if you haven’t yet. Then pick one item from Step 2 and add it to your shopping list this week.
The research on family preparedness behavior shows that the families who actually complete their kits and plans are the ones who started with a single, low-friction action and built from there.
April is California Earthquake Preparedness Month. The state government, Cal OES, and Ready.gov are all pointing in the same direction: individual and family readiness is the layer of protection that works when everything else gets overwhelmed. Your family’s plan is the one thing no infrastructure outage can take away from you.
Our complete 72-hour emergency kit guide has every item organized by priority, with budget options for each category. The whole kit can be assembled for $150 to $200 for a family of four using existing household items plus targeted purchases.
FAQs
What are the most critical items to include in a 72-hour earthquake kit? The foundation of a kit includes one gallon of water per person per day in food-grade containers and a three-day supply of no-cook food providing about 2,000 calories per adult daily. Unlike standard first-aid kits, a trauma-ready earthquake kit should also include a tourniquet, hemostatic gauze, and Israeli pressure bandages to treat crush injuries or severe lacerations.
Why should my family communication plan include an out-of-state contact? Local phone lines often jam immediately following a major earthquake, but text messages and out-of-state long-distance lines typically route more easily. An out-of-state relative serves as a central “communication hub” where separated family members can check in and relay their status.
What is the correct way to perform a “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” drill? Participants should immediately drop to their hands and knees, crawl under a sturdy table for cover, and hold on to a table leg until the shaking stops, protecting their head and neck with their arms. This posture, as seen in practiced family drills, prevents you from being knocked down and shields you from falling debris like light fixtures or ceiling tiles.
How often should I audit my emergency supplies and earthquake plan? You should set a calendar reminder to audit your kit every 6 months to rotate your water supply, check for drained batteries, and replace expiring prescription medications. This ensures your 12 gallons of water remain uncontaminated and that your portable chargers and emergency radios are functional before a disaster strikes.
