Strategic Stockpiles and Domestic Arsenal Zones

Overview

This section presents the document’s case for strategic stockpiles and what it calls domestic arsenal zones — pre-positioned reserves of essential supplies intended to make communities resilient during emergencies.

The argument for reserves

The authors argue that resilience depends on having essential goods on hand before they are needed. The emphasis is on continuity and care — keeping people supplied, connected, and treated during an emergency.

The Stockpile Estimator

A reader enters the population to be served, and the tool calculates recommended quantities from editable per-capita ratios. The defaults per 1,000 people are:

• Emergency water reserve — 3,000 gallons¹
• Shelf-stable meals — 9,000 meals²
• Trauma / medical kits — 40 kits³
• Backup generators — 2 units
• Field radios — 15 units³
• Reserve fuel — 500 gallons

The water and food defaults are derived from federal preparedness guidance (see the notes); the remaining quantities are illustrative planning factors, not official standards, and all ratios can be edited to match local guidance.

How the document frames implementation

Stockpiling scales from the household to the regional level. The authors tie it to the SAFE-USA fund (Section 10) and to the metrics framework (Section 15), and treat it as lawful, civic preparedness in the tradition of emergency-management planning — reviewed regularly so reserves remain current.

Footnotes

1. Derived from federal preparedness guidance: FEMA’s Ready.gov advises storing one gallon of water per person per day, and the American Red Cross recommends a 3-day supply for evacuation (and a 2-week supply at home) — i.e., 3,000 gallons per 1,000 people for three days. https://www.ready.gov/water · https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/survival-kit-supplies.html ↩

2. Based on the American Red Cross recommendation of a 3-day supply of non-perishable food for evacuation (a 2-week supply at home); the 9,000-meal figure assumes three meals per person per day over three days. FEMA and the Red Cross publish no official per-person weight or calorie standard, so the conversion to meals is a planning assumption. https://www.ready.gov/food ↩

3. A battery-powered or hand-crank NOAA Weather Radio and a first aid kit are among the basic emergency-kit contents recommended by FEMA’s Ready.gov and the American Red Cross. The exact per-1,000 counts shown here, and the generator and fuel figures, are illustrative planning factors rather than official standards. https://www.ready.gov/kit ↩ ↩²