The go bag

The rule

A go bag is what you can grab in the ten seconds between the alert and the door. If you would have to find it, it is storage, not a go bag. It lives by the exit, packed, and everyone knows it.

What goes in

• Documents in a waterproof pouch: national ID or Ghana Card, passports, birth certificates, insurance, property papers, and a photo of each on your phone as a backup.
• Cash in small notes. Card machines and mobile money go down with the power.
• Medicines for a week, with the prescription. Reading glasses. A basic first-aid kit.
• Light and power: a torch, spare batteries, a charged power bank and cables.
• Water and food: two litres per person and something that needs no cooking.
• Clothes: one change, closed shoes, a rain layer. Sandals cut in floodwater.
• For the small ones: nappies, formula, the toy that stops the crying.
• A whistle. Voices give out; a whistle carries.
• Keys and the written contact list — the phone will die at some point.

Keep it alive

Every six months: swap the water and food, check the medicines' dates, recharge the power bank, update the documents. Tie it to something you already do twice a year.

The one-minute version

Not ready to pack everything? Do the pouch of documents and the power bank today. That is most of the value.