SWISS HOUSEHOLD PREPAREDNESS: WHAT BABS RECOMMENDS

Switzerland's Federal Office for Civil Protection — BABS (Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz) — publishes detailed guidance for household emergency preparedness that is among the most thorough in Europe. The Swiss approach reflects a national culture of preparedness built over decades: civil defence infrastructure, mandatory military service, and a population expected to take individual responsibility seriously. The baseline recommendation is that every household be self-sufficient for at least two weeks. For most Swiss residents, 72 hours is a floor, not a ceiling.

Water storage is central to BABS guidance. Switzerland recommends 2 litres per person per day for drinking, with additional reserves for cooking and hygiene. For a two-week supply, a household of three needs a minimum of 42 litres of drinking water — stored in clean, food-grade containers in a cool, dark location. BABS also recommends knowing the location of your nearest public water point, as well as how to purify water using purification tablets, which should be part of every emergency kit. Tap water quality in Switzerland is excellent; the concern is access during infrastructure disruption, not quality.

Food stores should cover the full recommended period and require no refrigeration or cooking. BABS guidance emphasises caloric density and nutritional completeness: canned goods (fish, meat, legumes, vegetables), dried grains (rice, pasta, oats), crackers, hard cheese, honey, salt, and sugar. Beyond calories, consider the specific needs of your household — infants, elderly members, chronic illness, dietary restrictions. Switzerland's alpine geography and seasonal isolation history inform this: communities here have always planned around the possibility of being cut off. The mindset is useful even for urban households in Zurich or Geneva.

BABS also stresses the importance of documentation and cash. In a prolonged outage, electronic payment systems can fail. Swiss preparedness guidance recommends keeping a modest sum in small-denomination banknotes at home. Documents — identity cards, health insurance cards, passports, prescriptions, and a list of emergency contacts — should be stored in a waterproof, quickly accessible container. The BABS recommends including a battery-powered radio, a flashlight with spare batteries, candles, matches, a first aid kit, and essential medications. Additionally, Switzerland has an iodine tablet distribution system for nuclear incidents: registration ensures your household receives tablets automatically.

Shelter helps you track all of this automatically. The app maps your kit against BABS's official checklist for Switzerland, tracks expiry dates, and shows your household readiness score in real time — offline, private, no account required. Download Shelter — free