About State of Emergency
Practical U.S. preparedness guidance, written by a named team and built on official sources.
Real emergencies. Practical preparedness.
State of Emergency is an independent U.S. publication about preparing for real hazards: severe weather, power outages, wildfires, earthquakes, floods and the ordinary disruptions that turn a normal week into a difficult one.
The editorial position is in the tagline. Preparedness is a set of practical decisions a household makes in advance — not an identity, not a hobby, and not a response to fear. We write for people who want to be ready, not afraid, and we would rather tell you that you do not need something than sell you a reason to buy it.
We are a small operation. We do not have a newsroom, a testing laboratory or a decade of history, and we are not going to imply otherwise.
How we work
Guidance is built from official and primary sources first: the National Weather Service and NOAA, FEMA and Ready.gov, the USGS, the CDC, and manufacturer documentation. Secondary reporting is used for context, never as the sole basis for a safety instruction.
Every factual claim is checked for its source, its date, its geographic applicability, and whether a figure is measured, estimated or manufacturer-provided. Safety-critical subjects — carbon monoxide, electrical work, water treatment, first aid, evacuation — are held to a stricter standard than gear preferences, and default to the cautious option where the evidence is uncertain.
Commercial relationships stay out of editorial conclusions and are disclosed where they exist. When we get something wrong, we fix it on the page and say what changed.
The detail is published rather than summarized: Editorial Policy, Sources & Fact-Checking and Corrections Policy.
Our editorial team
Three editors, three distinct beats. Every page carries a byline, an editorial title and a link to the author's page, so you always know who wrote what — and on what.
Lt. Mike
I like plans that still make sense when the power is out and nobody has time to think. Give me a clear priority, a short checklist and gear that earns its place. I'm usually looking for the simplest way to make a household more ready without turning the garage into a bunker. If something is important, I'd rather tell you exactly what to do than dress it up.
Read Lt. Mike's page →
Sam L.
I'm interested in the kind of preparedness that actually fits into normal life — real homes, real budgets, kids, pets, limited storage and all the messy stuff most guides skip. I love simple fixes that make a home more resilient without making it feel like a survival compound. I'm also pretty skeptical of advice that only works if you own a truck, a barn and forty acres. If it's useful, affordable and easy to live with, I'm interested.
Read Sam L.'s page →
Nathan G.
Give me a generator, a battery, a pump or a tool and I immediately want to know what it can really do — and what's going to fail first. I like simple systems, repairable gear and anything I can understand without needing an app, a subscription and three proprietary adapters. I'll happily spend too much time comparing cables, loads and little technical details nobody puts in the headline. If I can troubleshoot it myself, I'm already more interested.
Read Nathan G.'s page →How State of Emergency is funded
Plainly: it is not, yet.
The site currently carries no advertising and runs no active affiliate links. The intended model is affiliate commissions on commercial pages, and potentially display advertising later. There are no paywalls, no subscriptions and no reader donations.
When that changes, it will be disclosed here and on the pages concerned before the first link earns anything. A commission will never buy a recommendation, a ranking position, or the removal of a criticism.
The rules are published in advance in our Affiliate Disclosure and Advertising Disclosure.
A note about safety
Everything here is general educational information. It is written to help you prepare and decide — it is not an emergency service, and it cannot see your building, your health, your local hazards or your household.
Our live tools supplement official warning systems. They do not replace NOAA Weather Radio, Wireless Emergency Alerts or your local emergency management agency.
The full statement, including the specific limits of the Live Emergency Map and of our medical and generator content, is in the Emergency & Medical Disclaimer.
Contact us
Corrections take priority over everything else we do. If a page here is wrong, out of date or unclear, we want to know — we would rather hear it from you than leave it standing.
Routes for corrections, questions, privacy requests and business enquiries are on the contact page.