(Photo: Michael Kraus)

For a family of four, add to the basic 72-hour kit:

• Mobiflex portable shelter system ($2,700)

• Altec suspension expedition backpacks ($329), Eagle Gear "War Bags" ($195), or Israeli Army backpacks ($250)

• 3 professional walkie-talkies ($3,000)

• Fully stocked professional paramedic's first-aid kit ($450)

• Nomad portable solar E-kit, to charge batteries and provide emergency light ($450)

• 2 portable showers ($80)

• 4 top-grade fixed-blade knives ($1,200)

• Maxa Beam searchlight ($1,687)

• 4 top-grade multi-tools ($400)

• Lansky sharpening kit ($60)

• Emergency clothing -- top-grade boots, raincoats, parkas, etc. ($2,500)

• Emergency transportation -- 3 folding Montague bikes ($1,200)

• 1 HOPE (high-office parachute escape, available at aerialegress.com) for landing safely from a window higher than 100 feet ($899)

• Top-grade police radio scanner ($800)

• Emergency food for one month -- freeze-dried MREs, etc. ($200)

• Primus multi-fuel camp stove ($130)

• 2 pneumatic Tasers and 4 cans of Punch O.C. spray ($450)

• 3 adult hazmat A- or C-class suits ($1,000)

• Sea Eagle 14SR sport boat and outboard motor -- for evacuation by Hudson or East River ($3,200)

• 1 ATACS (all-terrain all-purpose cart sled, available from Ferno), for towing all of the above; it handles up to 400 pounds of gear ($759)

TOTAL COST: $21,494

PLUS:

Survivor N.Y.C.
It used to be paranoia. Now it's being prepared. Robert Kolker hangs out with urban survivalists who've made a science of getting ready for anything the city -- or Osama bin Laden -- might throw at them.

The 72-Hour Kit
It can't happen here . . . but if it does, you'll want to be prepared. Below is a survivalist-certified checklist of everything a New Yorker might need to survive in the urban wilderness.

Questions of Survival
Everything you always wanted to know about being afraid of terror, asked.

Related:

• Archive: “Cover Story”
• Table of Contents: Aug 12, 2002 issue of New York | Subscribe!