France’s civil security recommends 72-hour emergency kit

France’s civil security service urges residents of France to prepare a 72-hour emergency kit now, explaining that the first 72 hours can be decisive in a major crisis. It announced this on Monday 9 November 2026 on the social network X, under the hashtag #LundiRésilience.

The detailed contents of the kit are set out in the guide "Tous responsables" from the General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN). It recommends 6 litres of drinking water per person, in bottles, and non-perishable food that requires no cooking. The kit should also include a battery-powered radio with spare batteries, a torch, a first aid kit, usual medication, a phone charger, cash, a spare set of keys and photocopies of identity documents in a waterproof pouch.

The guide describes the possible effects of a crisis: prolonged power and heating outages, public transport shutdowns, and phone and internet failures. Since emergency services handle urgent cases in order of severity, each person must be able to protect themselves for several days. The SGDSN advises storing the kit somewhere easily accessible and checking its contents twice a year, to verify expiry dates and replace batteries. The prefecture of Normandy and Seine-Maritime had issued a similar appeal on 27 October, under the message "N’attendez pas l’urgence".