When the Cascadia Subduction Zone ruptures, the standard advice you've heard your whole life — keep 72 hours of supplies — will not be enough. Not even close.
FEMA and Oregon Emergency Management both advise residents west of the Cascades to prepare for a minimum of two weeks without outside help. Roads will buckle, bridges over the Willamette may fail, and the region could be carved into isolated "islands" while crews work to restore access.
Water: the first failure point
A person needs about one gallon per day for drinking and basic hygiene. For a family of four over two weeks, that's 56 gallons — far more than most households store. Municipal water may be contaminated or simply unavailable for weeks after a major quake.
Gravity-Fed Filtration System
After testing nine filters, this is the one we'd stake a two-week emergency on. No power, no pumping — purifies 12 liters at a time.
Bottled water works, but it's heavy and takes space. A combination of stored water plus a reliable filter gives you redundancy — if your stored supply is compromised, you can still treat rainwater or a neighbor's pool.
Food that survives the shelf
Forget the bunker stereotype. The goal is two weeks of calories that require no refrigeration and minimal cooking. Freeze-dried meals, canned proteins, nut butters, and high-calorie bars cover most needs. Rotate your supply twice a year so nothing expires unnoticed.
Our editors keep a single 2-week food bucket per person in the house. It's the simplest way to guarantee you've hit the calorie threshold without spreadsheet math.
Whatever you choose, store it low and secured. A pantry shelf that collapses in the first 30 seconds of shaking is no help to anyone.
The 10-minute test
Here's the only readiness check that matters: if the ground started shaking right now and the power went out for two weeks, could you stay put, hydrated, fed, and in contact with your family? If any answer is no, that's where you start.