Croatia's civil protection service calls its list a survival kit, the komplet za preživljavanje, and treats it as one bag you can pick up and go. It is short, practical, and includes a few items most guides forget. Here is the official list.
The official guide
- Title: Komplet za preživljavanje ("Survival kit")
- Publisher: Ravnateljstvo civilne zaštite, Croatia's Civil Protection Directorate
- Horizon: the page asks for water and food for at least 2 days; we count it with the 72-hour guides
- Link: civilna-zastita.gov.hr (Croatian)
The page suggests packing everything in a rucksack, a bag or a large, strong carrier bag, and preparing extra items if your household includes infants, older people or people with disabilities.
The list
- Water: packaged, still, for at least 2 days, at 1.5 to 2 litres a day.
- Food: dried or tinned food that you normally eat, without too much salt or sugar, for at least 2 days.
- Hygiene: toothbrush and toothpaste, a protective face mask, paper tissues, toilet paper, sanitary pads, antibacterial gel.
- Medical: plasters, disinfectant, bandages, glasses if you wear them, and any other medical aids and medicines you need.
- Tools and electronics: a can opener; a charged phone battery or power bank (add the phone itself when you leave); a portable battery radio and spare batteries.
- General supplies: a torch, a whistle, matches or a lighter, plastic bin bags, adhesive tape.
- Money and papers: cash, documents, and the phone numbers of your household, relatives and friends written on paper. For any other emergency, call 112.
- Clothes and sleeping: a sleeping bag or a blanket.
- A map with your evacuation routes already drawn on it.
- Pets: food and supplies, if you have them.
About the water amount
The page says 1.5 to 2 litres a day for at least 2 days. It does not say "per person", but read it that way: one bottle between a family won't go far. Twenty of the 24 guides plan for 3 days, and Germany and France, for example, plan 2 litres per person per day. For a household of four, 2 litres each over 3 days is 24 litres. If you stock for 72 hours rather than 48, you are covered either way.
How Croatia compares
Our data counts 26 of our items in Croatia's list. None of them is rare: each appears in at least five of the 24 guides. There is no item listed by 18 or more guides that it leaves out.
It covers all six items that every one of the 24 guides lists: water, a torch, a radio, a first-aid kit, personal medicines and cash. It also includes a power bank (19 guides), spare batteries (22) and document copies (19).
Several of its items are on fewer than half the lists:
- A paper map with evacuation routes. Only six guides list a map. Croatia goes a step further and asks you to mark the routes in advance.
- A whistle, also on six lists.
- Adhesive tape, on six.
- A face mask, on nine.
- Period products, on five: Denmark, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia and Bulgaria.
What you might add
Keep the packed bag somewhere near the door and make sure everyone at home knows where it is. Because Croatia's kit is built to be carried, it doesn't cover the home. If you might have to stay put through a long power cut, consider what the longer guides add: a camping stove and fuel (13 guides), warm clothes, and more water in containers you can fill from the tap.
Build yours
Our checklist covers the Croatian list and scales water and food to your household. For the bag itself, see our grab bag checklist.