An Emergency Kit for Renters and Small Apartments

Nearly all preparedness advice assumes a house you own: a garage for the generator, a shed for the water tanks, a yard for the fuel, and permission to bolt things to walls.

About a third of Australian households rent, and a great many more live in apartments. The constraints are real — no drilling, no gas bottles on balconies in many buildings, limited storage, and the near-certainty of moving within a few years.

The good news is that a genuinely useful kit fits in one crate under a bed, requires no permission, and comes with you.

The 10-minute version

1. One crate, under the bed. A 50–60 litre lidded plastic tub holds a complete three-day kit and moves in a single trip.
2. Store water in the bottles it came in. Two litres per person per day, three days. No tanks, no plumbing, no landlord conversation.
3. Your building is the biggest variable. Find out now whether the lifts, water pumps, garage door and intercom work in a blackout. In most apartment buildings, several do not.

The crate

One 50–60 litre lidded tub, under a bed or on the top of a wardrobe. Everything below fits.

Water — the bulkiest item

• 6 litres per person for three days, in commercial bottled water. It stores for years and needs no rotation discipline
• A collapsible container to fill from the tap if a warning gives you notice
• Water purification tablets — tiny, cheap, and cover the low-probability contamination case

Food — three days, no cooking required

• Tinned food with ring pulls, plus a manual can opener anyway
• Muesli bars, nuts, dried fruit, crackers, peanut butter
• Long-life milk, instant coffee or tea
• Anything you actually eat, because rotation only happens with food you like
• Pet food if relevant

Light and power

• A headtorch per person, plus one small lantern. Headtorches beat handheld torches because they leave your hands free
• Spare batteries, stored outside the devices
• A charged power bank, ideally 20,000 mAh
• A battery AM/FM radio. The most-skipped item in every kit and the one that carries emergency broadcasts. See emergency communications gear

First aid and medication

• A compact first aid kit
• A week of any prescription medication, rotated. Ask your pharmacist about keeping a buffer
• Paracetamol, ibuprofen, antihistamines, rehydration sachets
• A copy of prescriptions and your Medicare number

Documents and money

• Copies of lease, ID, insurance policy, prescriptions, and pet registration — on paper and on an encrypted USB
• $100–200 in small notes. EFTPOS does not work in a blackout
• Written contact list including an out-of-area contact

Practical items

• Work gloves, a P2 mask each, wet wipes, hand sanitiser
• Rubbish bags, gaffer tape, a multi-tool
• A whistle
• Toilet paper, and a bucket with a lid — apartment sewerage can be affected in floods and extended outages
• A change of clothes and sturdy shoes, particularly if you would evacuate at night

Renter-specific constraints

What you cannot do:

• Install a generator, or run one indoors or on a balcony. Carbon monoxide kills people in apartments doing exactly this
• Drill, mount, or hard-wire anything without permission
• Store fuel or spare gas bottles in most apartment buildings — check your building rules and your lease
• Modify smoke alarms, though you can and should test them and report faults in writing

What you can do:

• Ask the agent, in writing, for a copy of the building’s emergency plan and evacuation diagram. In most jurisdictions the building must have one
• Request smoke alarm testing. Landlords have statutory obligations here in every state
• Ask whether the building has emergency lighting, a backup generator, and what happens to the water pumps in an outage
• Photograph the flat when you move in and again annually, which is your insurance evidence
• Get contents insurance. The building is the landlord’s problem; everything inside it is entirely yours, and this is the single largest preparedness gap among renters

Apartment realities to check now

Find these out before you need them, because most people guess wrong:

• Lifts stop in a blackout. How many flights of stairs, and can everyone in the household manage them?
• Water pumps often stop too. Above roughly the fifth floor, no power frequently means no water pressure. Stored water matters more the higher you live
• The garage roller door. Find the manual release now and try it. Cars trapped in basements during evacuations is a recurring and entirely avoidable problem
• The intercom and electronic door locks may fail open or fail shut. Know which
• Stairwell lighting — check whether emergency lighting actually exists. Keep a headtorch by the bed
• Balcony evacuation is not a thing. The stairwell is the route; know both of them
• Air conditioning stops, which matters enormously in a heatwave in a west-facing flat. Know where the nearest air-conditioned public building is — a library, shopping centre or community centre

Moving with it

The whole point of the crate is portability.

• It moves as one item. Label it, and it goes in the car rather than the truck
• Update the documents at each move — new address, new contacts
• Re-check the new building’s lift, pump, garage and stairwell realities on day one
• Re-register your address with your state emergency service alerts and update your insurance

Thresholds

Situation	The rule
Storage available	One 50–60 L crate under the bed. That is the whole kit
Water	2 L per person per day, 3 days, in commercial bottles
Above the 5th floor	Store more water. Pumps often fail with the power
Blackout	Lifts stop. Know the stairs and keep a headtorch by the bed
Basement parking	Find the manual roller door release before you need it
Generators, fuel, gas bottles	Not indoors, not on balconies. Check the lease
Smoke alarms	Test them, report faults in writing. Landlord obligation
Contents	Insured. The building is not your risk; everything in it is
Heatwave, no aircon	Know the nearest air-conditioned public building
Moving	The crate goes in the car. Update documents same week

What it costs

Tier	Spend	What it buys
Free	$0	Finding the stairs, the garage release and the building emergency plan; testing smoke alarms; a written contact list
Starter	~$80–120	Crate, bottled water, tinned food, one headtorch, batteries, cash, document copies
Solid	~$200–300	Add a headtorch each, a battery radio, a power bank, a first aid kit, P2 masks, gloves
Complete	~$350–450	Add a lantern, collapsible water container, purification tablets, a bucket with lid, spare clothes and shoes
Ongoing	~$15–30/month	Contents insurance. The highest-value line in this table

The drill: one afternoon

1. Buy the crate, and 6 litres of bottled water per person.
2. Fill it from the list above — most of it is a single supermarket trip.
3. Put it under the bed, and photograph the contents so you know what is in it.
4. Walk the stairwell from your floor to the street, and find the second exit.
5. Find the garage manual release and try it.
6. Email the agent asking for the building emergency plan and confirming smoke alarm testing dates. Keep the reply.
7. Get a contents insurance quote. Fifteen minutes.
8. Set a calendar reminder for a six-monthly check: batteries, food dates, medication, power bank charge.

Frequently asked questions

How do I build an emergency kit in a small apartment?

One 50 to 60 litre lidded crate under the bed holds a complete three-day kit: bottled water, no-cook food, headtorches, batteries, a power bank, a battery radio, first aid supplies, medication, document copies and cash.

How much water should I store as a renter?

Two litres per person per day for three days — six litres each — kept in the commercial bottles it came in, which store for years without rotation. Store more if you live above about the fifth floor, where water pumps commonly fail during a blackout.

Do lifts and water work during a blackout in apartments?

Lifts stop, and above roughly the fifth floor water pressure frequently fails because the building’s pumps are electric. Find your stairwells and keep a headtorch by the bed rather than discovering both in the dark.

Can I use a generator in a rented apartment?

No. Generators produce carbon monoxide and must never be run indoors, in a garage, or on a balcony. Most apartment building rules and leases also prohibit storing fuel or spare gas bottles.

What are a landlord’s obligations for smoke alarms?

Every Australian state places statutory obligations on landlords for smoke alarm installation and maintenance, with specific requirements varying by state. Test yours regularly and report any fault in writing so there is a record.

Do renters need contents insurance?

Yes — the building is insured by the landlord, but everything inside it is entirely your risk. It is the single largest and cheapest gap to close in renter preparedness, typically costing $15 to $30 a month.

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Sources

• Australian Red Cross — RediPlan emergency planning
• MoneySmart — contents insurance
• Fire and Rescue NSW — apartment and unit fire safety
• Bureau of Meteorology — warnings
• Energy Networks Australia — power outage advice