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.