The first 7 days: water, sanitation, shelter and food, day by day

Days 4 to 7 turn survival into stability: two independent water sources treated every time, a latrine 30 m from water, one warm dry room, an eaten-first food plan, and a daily meeting with a written log.

Part of Day Zero, the plan for an AI-related crisis that gets out of control. Why it exists. General information, not medical advice: how these guides are reviewed.

The first 72 hours are about staying alive. Days 4 to 7 are about making the place you are in safe to stay in. Write the plan on paper and tick it off.

Day 1 to 3 (short version)

Check people, water, warmth and shelter, then find the others near you. Count what you have: water, food, medicine, fuel, tools.

Day 4: water for the long run

• Aim for 4 litres per person per day for drinking and cooking, more for hot weather and for anyone ill. Washing comes after.
• Find two independent sources: rain collection, a stream, a well, a spring. Water from rivers and ponds needs treating every time.
• Treat: boil for 1 minute (3 minutes above 2000 m), or filter through cloth then add unscented household bleach (2 drops per litre, wait 30 minutes), or use a sand-and-charcoal filter and then boil.
• Keep drinking water in clean closed containers, separate from washing water.

Day 5: sanitation, the thing people skip

Disease from bad water and waste kills more people than hunger in the first months.

• A latrine at least 30 m from any water, downhill if possible, with a lid or covering of earth or ash after each use.
• Hand washing station (a container with a tap or a hole, soap or ash) next to the latrine and where food is prepared.
• Burn or bury rubbish. Keep food covered. Do not let waste water run toward your water source.
• Anyone with diarrhoea drinks oral rehydration solution (1 litre clean water, 6 level teaspoons sugar, half a teaspoon salt). See medicine.

Day 6: shelter, fuel and food

• Choose one warm, dry, defensible room or building for sleeping. Make it draught-free and dry before you make it comfortable.
• Count fuel. Plan cooking for one fire a day. Cook in batches. Use a hay box or a wrapped pot to keep food hot.
• Eat the perishable food first (fresh, chilled, thawed), then tins, then dry staples. Do not waste a thawed freezer; cook and share it or dry/smoke it.
• Write the food list with dates and the ration per day. Plan so that the total lasts, not so that everyone is full on day one.

Day 7: the group

• Meet everyone around you. Ask what each person can do: medical, building, farming, repair, cooking, teaching, radio.
• Agree who decides what (see teamwork), a daily meeting time, a watch rota, and a simple rule for sharing.
• Make the first map: water, shelter, shops and workshops, fuel, farmland, hazards, other groups.
• Start the written log: date, weather, supplies, who did what, problems. It is how the group remembers.

End of week one: check yourselves

1. Everyone has clean water and a latrine and a hand-washing place?
2. Everyone has somewhere dry to sleep and warmth?
3. Food counted and ration set?
4. Injured and sick looked after?
5. A way to know what the others are doing (meetings, signals, radio)?

Any "no" is the job for tomorrow. Next: the first 30 days.