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Our Approach

You can’t improve what you can’t measure.

Households invest in emergency kits, plans, supplies, and training. But after all that effort, a basic question remains: How prepared are we, and what should we work on next? Without a consistent way to assess readiness, it’s difficult to know what’s missing, what is improving, or whether our efforts are making a difference.

PrepCompass is building a common approach to household preparedness that connects risks, essential services, practical capabilities, and clear next steps. Whether guidance comes through PrepCompass or, in the future, a personal AI assistant, the goal is the same: help each household make meaningful progress, one manageable action at a time.

When readiness can be measured consistently, the benefits extend beyond individual households. Communities, employers, and organizations could better understand preparedness gaps, direct support where it’s needed, and track improvement over time — while protecting household privacy.

Start with your household. Build readiness that lasts.

Create Your Plan

A practical path from uncertainty to readiness

PrepCompass uses a structured process to help households understand their vulnerabilities, build practical capabilities, and maintain readiness over time.

The five-step methodology. Readiness feeds back into reassessment — preparedness is maintained, never finished.
1

Hazards — Understand what could disrupt your household

Consider the events and conditions that could affect your household, from natural hazards to prolonged disruptions of essential services.

EarthquakeWildfire & smokeFloodSevere stormHeat waveExtended outage
2

Lifelines — Understand what you depend on

Identify how interruptions to electricity, water, communications, transportation, and other essential services could affect daily life. PrepCompass assesses impact across seven community lifelines:

Safety & SecurityFood, Water & ShelterHealth & MedicalEnergyCommunicationsTransportationHazardous Materials
3

Capabilities — Understand what your household can do

Assess the practical abilities, resources, knowledge, plans, and relationships that help your household function during disruptions — across ten household capabilities:

Practice Self-CareEstablish Mutual AssistanceEstablish Energy SourcesProtect Health & SafetySecure SuppliesManage Food & WaterEstablish ShelterEstablish CommunicationsAvoid Secondary HazardsAddress Injuries
4

Next Best Actions — Know what to improve next

PrepCompass identifies practical actions based on your household’s assessment, helping you focus on the improvements that matter most — one achievable step at a time, not a stockpile or a perfect plan.

5

Readiness — Build, maintain, and improve

Track progress, practice capabilities, update information, and reassess as household circumstances change. Readiness is a level you maintain and grow — which is why the process loops back, rather than ending.

Preparedness is not a one-time checklist. It is a living system of capabilities that grows stronger through consistent, manageable improvements.

Create Your Plan

Built for consistency. Designed to improve.

PrepCompass has developed an initial methodology for assessing and improving household preparedness — connecting household risks, essential service dependencies, practical capabilities, and targeted actions into one continuous improvement process.

This methodology is designed to be reviewed and improved over time. See About for where PrepCompass is headed, and who we're building it with.

Find your next step.

You don’t need a perfect emergency plan to begin. Start by understanding your risks, assessing your capabilities, and identifying practical improvements that fit your circumstances — then build on them over time.

Create Your Plan

Start with your household assessment. Discover what to work on next.