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<\/div>\n<\/p>\n Whether you are just beginning with your preparedness or are a seasoned prepper, we have all experienced how overwhelming it is to plan for all the different possible events. Preparedness books and the internet can be a great tool for discovery and information, but it can also be a distraction. One of these distractions is the amount of information available and, along with that, the need one feels to be prepared for every<\/span> possible disaster or disaster that might occur.<\/p>\n An accurate assessment of potential hazards and situations gives those just starting out and as well as those reviewing their plans valuable insights on what to plan for first<\/strong>. Once you know this, you can focus your attention where it needs to be. This saves both time and money.<\/p>\n The premise of a threat analysis is determining which events are most likely to occur<\/strong> so you can mitigate their effects as much as possible. By starting with the most likely disasters and events, you will be better prepared to meet these challenges. As you continue down your list, becoming better prepared for each event, your overall preparedness level will increase.<\/p>\n For example, a threat analysis will help you see that you should prepare for natural disasters like floods, storms, and earthquakes before less-likely scenarios like asteroid collisions, pandemics, and nuclear war. This is not to infer the latter are not possible, only that you are far more likely to be affected<\/strong> by the former. And if you are fully prepared for the first group, you are much closer to being prepared for other, less-likely events.<\/p>\n To start your threat analysis, make a list of all the disasters, events, and situations that might occur in and around your location. Be sure to include applicable work and school locations for all your family members. For this part of the exercise, do not sort, group or organize \u2013 simply explore and write down everything<\/strong> you can think of. You can always add to your list later.<\/p>\n As you look over these potential threats, you will begin to see patterns emerge. There are several ways you can sort these threats and most people tend to sort them based on their type, such as natural disasters, man-made disasters, and so on. This type of grouping is easy to understand and remember, but does not lend itself to knowing which of these threats are most likely<\/strong> to occur.<\/p>\n At this point, consider which events will affect you more. This is best illustrated with an example. Let\u2019s say there is a large earthquake<\/a> in California and at the same time, your basement floods in Illinois. Which of these events is more likely to have a direct impact on you?<\/strong> Many people are suffering due to the earthquake in California, but you<\/span> are much more affected by the flooded basement. In other words, proximity is everything.<\/p>\n It is important to keep in mind that proximity can lessen or increase the impact to you personally<\/strong>. Now, group your threat list based on which occur closer to you and will have a greater impact on you and your family. A good proximity list would include:<\/p>\n Now is probably a good time to put your list into a spreadsheet. You will soon be adding a few more columns of information to help you make decisions on which potential threats to focus on first.<\/p>\n Once you sort your threat list into the the above proximity list, create a new column and title it \u201cOnset.\u201d Then, for each item, mark it as either Rapid Onset<\/em><\/strong> or Slow Onset.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The onset of a threat is how fast it occurs<\/strong>. An earthquake occurs with no warning, while you may have several days notice of an approaching ice storm. Some disasters, like drought and currency collapses, can take years to occur. It is important to know the onset, as slow onset events allow for more time to prepare, while you will need to prepare differently for rapid onset events.<\/p>\n This step may take some research if you are not familiar with the onset of a specific event, but it is not time wasted. The more you know about disasters and crisis events, the better informed your decisions regarding them will be. Some people assign a numerical value<\/strong> to the onset with one (1) for slow and two (2) for rapid.<\/p>\n You may be tempted to add a \u201cmedium onset,\u201d meaning an event that may or may not have a warning period. You are trying to avoid vagueness in your analysis.<\/strong> It is better to choose either rapid or slow, as marking an event as either \u201cmedium\u201d or \u201cpossibly rapid\u201d does not help with your decision tree on what to be prepared for. If in doubt, err on the side of caution.<\/p>\n There are two additional columns of information to add to your analysis sheet:<\/p>\n There are a number of ways of denoting this information, and you will need to chose which works best for you. Some people rank them from 1 to 10, some 1 through 5, and others 0 to 4. However you decide to rank these, make sure you implicitly understand the ranking<\/strong> when you look at it. You do not want to be referring to a legend or cheat sheet to remember what the scoring means, as the threat analysis needs to convey information intuitively to you<\/em>.<\/p>\n The last column is the Impact Score. This is a number that is derived from the other information<\/strong>. <\/p>\n In the example below, 1 is used for slow onset, as this will not change the score (Onset x Likelihood of Occurrence x Severity of Impact to You), and a 2 for rapid onset, as this will double the score, making that event stand out more.<\/p>\n Below, the impact score is obtained by multiplying the three scores together, creating an indexed score which is easy to visualize those events that will:<\/p>\n When you finish with your threat analysis, it might look something like this:<\/p>\n Please note that this is only a sample analysis. It\u2019s likely your assessment will have many more events listed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In the example above, a scale of 1 \u2013 5 was used for both the event\u2019s Likelihood of Occurrence and for the Severity of Impact to You. Feel free to use whatever makes sense to you, though using letters should be avoided because it would be difficult to obtain an indexed score.<\/p>\n Once you have the Impact Score, there are a couple of ways to prioritize your list: descending impact score or setting a threshold.<\/p>\n One quick way to find out which events to prepare for first, is to group the events by their score in descending order. When doing this, the top five events in this example are:<\/p>\n Another way of look at the data is by arbitrarily setting a threshold<\/strong> on the score, say scores 21 and above are the highest priority, 11 through 20 are medium priority, and 1 through 10 are low priority. If we were to group the events along these boundaries, you would have the following three groups;<\/p>\n Notice it is the common, everyday type of emergencies that are at the top of the list and not the often overly-hyped events that are often talked about on the internet. As it happens, these everyday emergencies are exactly the disasters and events you need to be prepared for first<\/strong>.<\/p>\n You should review and update your analysis at least once a year, or whenever you experience a major life change like moving or a change in your household.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n You can find information from government sources like FEMA, NOAA for weather, and your local or state emergency management agency.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Start by listing just a few threats you are already familiar with. The goal is to build your preparedness level one step at a time, focusing on the most likely events first.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Now that you\u2019ve defined your most likely disasters, it\u2019s time to build your plan. Don\u2019t waste another minute on random lists. Get started with our Emergency Checklist Collection<\/a><\/strong> to quickly and easily build kits for the threats that matter most to you, from power outages to home fires and more. Download your checklists today<\/a> and gain peace of mind knowing you\u2019re ready for anything. <\/p>\n Making a threat analysis isn\u2019t difficult, but it does take some time. The time spent should directly translate into being better prepared for the most likely problems, and wasting less time on highly unlikely ones.\u00a0 This will leave you better able to protect and provide for your family during times of disaster and crisis.<\/p>\n Originally published 5\/24\/14.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Whether you are just beginning with your preparedness or are a seasoned prepper, we have all experienced how overwhelming it is to plan for all the different possible events. Preparedness books and the internet can be a great tool for discovery and information, but it can also be a distraction. One of these distractions is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":312994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135822,142775,142776,142777,104466,142778,142779,142780,142781,142782,131473,142774,142783,110012,142784,142785,132928,142786,142787],"tags":[22281,10950,13031,19766,12947,95513,142788,142789,13903,69371,142790,45950,18854,142794,11115,142791,8320,37020,142792,3739,142793,8063],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-312993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drought","category-earthquake","category-ebola","category-economic-collapse","category-emergency-planning","category-emp","category-epidemic","category-flooding","category-house-fire","category-job-loss","category-pandemic","category-situational-awareness","category-threat-analysis","category-tornado","category-tornadoes","category-vehicle-accident","category-war","category-what-to-prepare-for","category-wildfire","tag-assessment","tag-define","tag-disaster","tag-drought","tag-earthquake","tag-ebola","tag-economic-collapse","tag-emp","tag-epidemic","tag-flooding","tag-house-fire","tag-job-loss","tag-pandemic","tag-prepper","tag-risk","tag-threat-analysis","tag-tornado","tag-tornadoes","tag-vehicle-accident","tag-war","tag-what-to-prepare-for","tag-wildfire"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"prepper](\"https:\/\/thesurvivalmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/prepper-risk-assessment-750x500.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nWhy Your Prepper Risk Analysis is Crucial<\/h2>\n
Step 1: Analyze Proximity and Personal Risk<\/h2>\n
Make a Comprehensive Threat List<\/h3>\n
Prioritize by Personal Impact<\/h3>\n
![\"image](\"https:\/\/thesurvivalmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/earthquake-damage.jpg\")
<\/a>Group According to Proximity<\/h3>\n
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Step 2: Assess Onset and Warning Time<\/h2>\n
Rapid Onset vs. Slow Onset Events<\/h3>\n
Avoid the \u201cMedium Onset\u201d Trap<\/h3>\n
Step 3: Score Likelihood and Severity of Each Threat<\/h2>\n
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Choose Your Ranking System<\/h3>\n
Step 4: Calculate Your Final Impact Score<\/h2>\n
How to Calculate the Score<\/h3>\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\nStep 5: Prioritize Your Prepping Plan<\/h2>\n
Prioritize by Descending Impact Score<\/h3>\n
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Prioritize by Setting a Threshold<\/h3>\n
High Priority:<\/h4>\n
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Medium Priority:<\/h4>\n
Low Priority:<\/h4>\n
Tips for a Customized Risk Analysis<\/h2>\n
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FAQ<\/h2>\n
Related Emergency Planning Content<\/h2>\n
Gear and Supply Lists to Get You Started<\/h2>\n
Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n