Supply Crisis

Water has an exact official figure. The CDC recommends storing at least 1 gallon (3.8 liters) per person per day, for drinking and hygiene. The minimum is for 3 days, but the ideal is to have a 2-week reserve.

• Keep non-perishable food that your family will actually eat, taking into account any special dietary needs. A kit full of food nobody will eat is useless, according to Ready.gov.
• Put together a kit with a manual can opener, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, a flashlight, extra batteries, a first-aid kit, a whistle, and a wrench or pliers to shut off your home's utilities.
• If you work outside the home, be prepared to shelter there for at least 24 hours: Ready.gov recommends this as part of a workplace kit.
• Keep an extra supply of medications you take regularly, and don't wait until you run out to restock them.

If the power fails during a shortage, food has its own set of rules. According to FoodSafety.gov: a refrigerator keeps food safe for up to 4 hours without power; after that, any food that has been above 4 °C (40 °F) for more than 2 hours should be thrown out. A full freezer holds its temperature for about 48 hours with the door closed; at half capacity, about 24 hours.

• Don't buy more than you can reasonably store and use: buying more than you need only makes shortages worse for everyone, including yourself on your next trip to the store.
• Share information about where supplies are available instead of keeping it to yourself: this is the recommendation the World Bank gives in response to panic buying.
• Prioritize the essentials: water, medicine, basic food. Leave what can wait for later.
• Never taste food to decide whether it's safe: this is guidance straight from FoodSafety.gov. When in doubt, throw it out.

• Frozen food that still has ice crystals, or that stayed at 4 °C or below, can be safely refrozen, according to FoodSafety.gov.
• Restock your reserve as soon as the supply chain returns to normal, without waiting for the next crisis.
• Review what ran out first in your home during the shortage and adjust your kit for next time.
• Share what's left of your reserve with neighbors who were left with nothing, if you have room to do so.

A family plan is not a pretty document: it is a handful of agreements made today, while everyone is calm, so you do not have to decide with your heart racing and no signal on your phone. It takes one conversation over the table and fits on a sheet of paper stuck to the refrigerator.

1. Decide where to meet, in two different places. One near home, for getting out quickly, and another outside the neighborhood, in case you cannot get back to the area. Everyone should know both by heart, children included, and it should not depend on anyone having a phone handy.
2. Name an out-of-area contact. One person in another city that everyone texts when they can. That person gathers information and passes it along, so no one has to go out looking for anyone else. It works because local lines get overloaded first, and because a text gets through where a call does not.
3. Assign responsibilities to specific people. Who grabs the emergency bag, who shuts off the gas and power, who helps the older person or someone with reduced mobility, who gets the pets out. A task with no owner is a task no one does.
4. Keep the list on paper. Phone numbers for family, the out-of-area contact, the doctor, the school, insurance, and emergency services. On paper, in the emergency bag, and in your wallet. A phone with a dead battery has no address book.
5. Practice it once. A fifteen-minute drill reveals what the conversation does not: that the emergency bag was buried in the closet, that no one knows where the gas shutoff is, that the child does not remember the meeting point. Repeat it at least once a year and whenever something important at home changes.

How to store it so it works when you need it

The CDC calls for approved food-grade containers with a tight-fitting lid, made of a sturdy, unbreakable material —never glass— and with a narrow mouth for pouring. An explicit warning: never use a container that has held toxic chemicals such as bleach or pesticides. And what almost everyone forgets: stored water should be replaced every 6 months. To disinfect the container before filling it, use a teaspoon of unscented household bleach per liter of water, wait 30 seconds, and pour it out.

What food to keep on hand

Ready.gov recommends several days of non-perishable food and gives a concrete list: ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits, and vegetables —and a can opener—, protein or fruit bars, dry cereal or granola, peanut butter, dried fruit, canned juices, and pasteurized long-life milk. The rule when putting it together is simple: food your family will actually eat, that needs no cooking, and that you can rotate before it expires.

• Keep the refrigerator and freezer closed: every time you open one, you waste hours of stored cold.
• Throw out any food that has touched floodwater, even if the container looks intact. This is an explicit Ready.gov instruction.
• Keep a manual can opener. It is the item people forget most, and without it your pantry is useless.
• If you buy bottled water, keep it sealed in its original container, in a cool, dark place.

When the cell network is overloaded: text, do not call

The joint FCC and FEMA guide explains why: "text messages may get through when your call does not", even if delivery is delayed when the network is congested. And it asks for something almost no one does: "limit non-emergency calls", because every call takes up space that emergency communications need. Also save a contact under the name "ICE" (In Case of Emergency), the convention rescue personnel look for on someone else's phone.

How to stretch your battery

The same guide recommends lowering screen brightness and turning off apps to conserve charge. In an emergency your phone stops being entertainment and becomes your only line to the outside world: treat it like your water supply.

The battery-powered radio is still irreplaceable

The FCC and FEMA recommend a battery-powered radio or a portable television to follow emergency bulletins during power outages. It is the only channel that depends on neither your electricity nor the cell network.

The alerts you already have and did not know about

In the United States, Wireless Emergency Alerts are free messages that go straight to your phone for severe weather, AMBER alerts, and threats to safety in your area. Two things worth knowing: you do not need to sign up —phones have supported them since 2012— and they are not affected by network congestion, so they get through when calls no longer do. Find out what the equivalent system is in your country, and do not mute it.

• Have at least one light source that does not depend on the grid: a battery-powered or hand-crank flashlight, or a rechargeable lamp.
• Charge phones and backup batteries before the forecast event arrives, not after the power is already out.
• Keep a list of important phone numbers on paper: if your phone dies, your contacts die with it.
• Agree with your family that after an emergency everyone texts the same contact instead of calling each other.

This is the section that decides who has a hard time and who has a dangerously hard time. An emergency does not suspend diabetes, high blood pressure, pregnancy, or dependence on an oxygen concentrator: what gets cut off is access to the pharmacy, the clinic, and electricity. Everything that follows needs to be prepared beforehand, because once the emergency hits, there is no more room.

1. Keep a reserve of your medications, and know which ones hold up. Ready.gov calls for a several-day supply of prescription medications. For those that need refrigeration, the CDC is blunt: once the power has been out for a day or more, discard any medication that requires refrigeration, unless its label says otherwise.
2. The insulin exception, worth knowing word for word. The FDA documents that insulin in the manufacturer's original vials or cartridges —opened or unopened— can stay unrefrigerated between 15 and 30 °C (59 and 86 °F) for up to 28 days and still work. It loses effectiveness at extreme temperatures, and the longer the exposure, the less effective it becomes. In an emergency "you may still need to use insulin that was stored above 30 °C" —that is better than not using it at all— but as soon as proper storage is available again, those vials should be discarded and replaced.
3. If someone depends on electric medical equipment, there is one step almost no one takes. Ready.gov says it explicitly: you can ask your power company to put you on a priority list for service restoration. That step is free, can be done on any ordinary day, and changes the order in which you get reconnected. Add a backup battery for an electric wheelchair and for any assistive device, and talk with your doctor about how to keep the equipment running during a power outage.
4. Keep a copy of medical information, not just the pills. A list of medications with dosages, allergies, diagnoses, doctors' contact information, and —for infants— the vaccination record. A prescription bottle cannot always be refilled at a pharmacy in another city; a written list can solve that.

Pregnancy and newborns

The CDC calls for prenatal vitamins and other medications in the kit, plus supplies in case delivery happens without being able to reach a hospital: clean towels, clean sharp scissors, a bulb syringe, gloves, two clean white shoelaces to tie the cord, clean sheets, sanitary pads, soap or alcohol, and garbage bags. For infants: diapers, wipes, ointment, bottles, and formula. One detail that matters: ready-to-feed formula is the safest option in an emergency, because it does not need to be mixed with water and comes in sterile, single-use containers.

Disability, reduced mobility, and older adults

Ready.gov stresses planning accessible transportation in advance for evacuating or getting around, and including a service or support animal with its food, water, and supplies. That plan should be worked out with specific, named neighbors, not left vague.

The blow that comes later: mental health

The CDC names the normal reactions after a disaster —fear, anger, sadness, worry, numbness, frustration, trouble sleeping, or nightmares— and recommends taking care of your body, staying in touch with other people, and taking breaks from the news. In the United States and its territories, the Disaster Distress Helpline is available 24 hours a day: 1-800-985-5990, with service in Spanish. Asking for help here is not weakness: it is part of recovery, just like repairing the roof.

1. Before you go back in: look, smell, and listen from outside. The CDC lays it out this way: if you smell gas or suspect a leak, shut off the main valve, open all the windows, and get out immediately. If there is standing water inside and you can cut the power from a dry spot, do it. And one simple warning that prevents explosions and fires: use battery-powered flashlights, not candles, gas lanterns, or torches.
2. Ventilate before you settle in. The CDC recommends going in briefly to open doors and windows, and letting the house air out for at least 30 minutes before staying inside.
3. Shutting off utilities: when to do it, and the mistake you cannot make. Gas has a rule with no exceptions: if you shut it off for any reason, only a qualified professional can turn it back on. Never turn it back on yourself. Electricity is shut off by switching off the individual circuits first and the main breaker last —the order matters, because an electrical spark can ignite gas if there is a leak—. Water should be shut off if pipes may have cracked, because that contaminates the house supply, and should not be turned back on until authorities confirm it is safe to drink.
4. Go back only when authorities say it is safe. It sounds obvious, and it is the instruction people break most often: go back home only when authorities say it is safe. Structural damage is not always visible from the street.

• Make a photo inventory of what is in each room today: it takes twenty minutes and is worth its weight in gold for a claim.
• Keep that inventory and your policies outside the house —in the cloud or with a family member— because a file that gets soaked along with the house is useless.
• If you have to leave, take your documents with you, not your furniture.
• Do not sign anything with a contractor while you are in shock: check the money section for the warning signs of fraud.

The documents you need to protect today

The official recommendation is to keep insurance policies, deeds, property records, and other important papers in a safe place outside the house. FEMA publishes the Emergency Financial First Aid Kit for this, organized into four sections: household identification, financial and legal documentation, medical information, and contacts. Its rule for paper: a fireproof and waterproof box or safe, a bank safe-deposit box, or in the hands of someone you trust. For digital files: password-protected files on an external drive or in secure storage outside the home. And if you pay everything online, print your account records periodically.

An emergency fund, even a small one

The CFPB avoids magic formulas: "the amount you need depends on your situation", but "even a small amount can provide some financial security". Its underlying argument is the one that matters: without that cushion, a single unexpected expense can grow far larger than the original bill through interest and fees, because it forces you to rely on credit.

When the supply chain breaks down, what becomes valuable isn't having the new product: it's making the one you already have last. A whole economy of repair and substitution appears where restocking used to be.

• Repair of appliances, electronics, and major home appliances, instead of replacement.
• Shoe, clothing, and furniture repair: trades that come back as soon as new goods get scarce or expensive.
• Sale of spare parts salvaged from equipment beyond repair.
• Buying and reselling secondhand goods, inspected and backed by a short warranty — that's what sets it apart from a flea-market stall.
• Local substitutes for imported products that stopped arriving.
• Transport and last-mile delivery for businesses that lost their usual delivery driver.
• Preventive maintenance, which becomes critical when spare parts aren't readily available.

It helps to start with one figure to size up what we're talking about: according to the ILO, informality affects nearly half of the employed population of Latin America and the Caribbean, around 47%, with huge differences between countries — under 30% in Uruguay and Chile, over 70% in Bolivia and Peru. For millions of families in the region, "looking for a job" and "starting something on your own" are the same sentence. What follows is not a promise of income: it is a map of what people actually do when a crisis hits, with the requirements and the risks laid out plainly.

Repair shop — the trade that comes back in every crisis

Small appliances, bicycles, shoes, clothing: when replacing something gets expensive, repairing it becomes profitable. The investment is mostly tools and know-how, and both accumulate rather than depreciate. Business tip: charge for the diagnosis even if the client doesn't go through with the repair, and set a flat price for typical repairs — open-ended quotes scare customers off.

Salvaging spare parts

A piece of equipment that's beyond repair still has good parts on it. Buying cheap what others throw away, taking it apart, sorting it, and selling parts individually meets exactly the need the supply chain isn't meeting. It requires order and inventory — a part you can't find doesn't exist for the customer — and a dry storage space.

Secondhand goods with inspection and warranty

What sets a business apart from a stall is the promise: inspect, clean, test, and back it with a short but real warranty (fifteen days, for example). That lets you charge more than flea-market price and builds repeat customers. Keep a record of what gets returned and why — that's the information that tells you what not to buy again.

United States — SBA disaster loans

For areas with a declared disaster. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) provides working capital for affected small businesses and nonprofit organizations; the physical damage loan covers losses not covered by insurance. Combined cap of $2 million, interest not exceeding 4% if you cannot obtain credit elsewhere, terms of up to 30 years, and the first payment deferred 12 months. There is also a line for homeowners (up to $500,000) and for renters for personal property (up to $100,000).

Mexico — what actually exists today

FONDEN stopped taking on new commitments on January 1, 2021. What operates today in emergencies is PAEAN, run by Civil Protection, and it is worth knowing exactly what it is and is not: it delivers relief supplies — food kits, water, blankets, roofing sheets, cleaning materials — when a state's own capacity is overwhelmed. It is not a reconstruction fund or a loan for your business. For capital, look at state, municipal, or development-bank programs, always verifying on the official website: fraud schemes that use its name circulate around these programs.

Brazil — Pronampe for micro and small businesses

A credit line for microenterprises (annual revenue up to 360,000 reais) and small businesses (from 360,000 to 4.8 million). The amount can reach up to 60% of the previous year's gross revenue for businesses with more than one year in operation, and up to 50% for new ones. The maximum rate is the SELIC rate plus up to 6% per year.

Two recent supply crises, and what each one taught.

Trade and Logistics in Latin America During COVID-19, 2020

World trade in goods fell 17.7% in May 2020 compared to the previous year. Latin America and the Caribbean was the hardest-hit developing region, with a projected 25% drop in its exports and imports that year. ECLAC's lesson: integrating regional logistics into recovery plans reduces dependence on fragile global supply chains. For a family, the equivalent is not relying on a single supplier or a single type of product for your essentials.

Infant Formula Shortage in the United States, 2022 — When a Few Hands Control a Lot

Manufacturer Abbott began a voluntary recall on February 17, 2022, at its plant in Sturgis, Michigan, due to contamination. Just three manufacturers controlled about 85% of the market, according to the Federal Trade Commission. National availability dropped from a typical 89-90% to about 80% in its worst week, in mid-May 2022. The FDA responded with "Operation Fly Formula" and created an office dedicated to critical foods. The lesson: when a handful of suppliers concentrate control of an essential product, a single problem at a single plant can empty an entire country's shelves within weeks.

Related guides on this site:

• Food crisis — when what rises is the price, not availability.
• Infrastructure crisis — when what fails is the road, not the store.
• Energy crisis — fuel runs short too.