What's In Your Emergency Bag?

Living in Southern California removes me from the midwest tornadoes and the southeast floods, but it lands me in the "quake" zone. I felt more earthquakes when I lived in Japan, but never had an emergency bag until now. Now I have three little girls with big needs. I want them to survive and thrive.

Then I watched the movie "Contagion," and I realized my "quake" bag isn't big enough. Sure I've got lots of water that doesn't expire for five years, some granola and freeze-dried chicken salad, a flashlight, a knife, some rope, and emergency blankets and tent. But it won't be enough if our world is hit by the Superbug, like the bat-pig viral strain in the movie "Contagion." My emergency bag is meant to last us only 72 hours.

The Hollywood of "Contagion" definitely spun me up; however, the real state of our planet, much of what I learned during grad school, is what has me wondering about survival.

I do believe we as humans aren't going to be around forever. At some point our species will go extinct.

If it happens due to an uncontrollable, unbeatable, monster-like Superbug, extinction of our species will be an indescribable, drawn-out, frightening process. If it results from an asteroid smashing into our planet, I like to think extinction will happen quickly so we won't suffer.

How does a mom with a simple emergency bag for earthquakes prepare for the possible frightening future?
Do I need to?

I imagine every generation of parents feared the collapse of something: our government, our country, our freedom, our civilization...

But is it so extreme now that I should be concerned that our planet is tipping over or has tipped over in some way that spells the end?

I can ignore the possibility.
I can live in denial.
I can put my faith into God, the government, my neighbors, and altruism.
I can believe that my children will experience the same healthy, safe life that I've lived so far.

But so far their childhood is unlike mine was in so many ways:

I can't help but wonder, worry, if in their lifetime they will face the horror of our world ending as we know it.

My simple emergency bag won't last us long enough.
I don't lose any sleep over this worry as it isn't very strong in my mind.

Stronger is the concern that Earth, our environment won't be the same when my children have children of their own one day.