That person can carry cases of water up the stairs, walk several miles without help, sleep on a gym floor, eat whatever food is handed to him and go several days without medication. He can hear emergency instructions, understand them immediately, load his own vehicle and evacuate without arguing, panicking or becoming confused. If the power goes out, he grabs a flashlight. If the building needs to be evacuated, he walks down the stairs.

That person probably exists somewhere. He just does not represent most American households.

Real households include elderly parents, young children, people taking several medications, diabetics using insulin, adults with limited mobility, people on oxygen concentrators, children with feeding pumps, family members with dementia and people who cannot tolerate a crowded public shelter. They also include exhausted caregivers who may be the only person in the house who knows how the medical equipment works.

The standard preparedness checklist barely acknowledges any of this.

Ready.gov recommends one gallon of water per person per day, shelf-stable food, a flashlight, a hand-crank radio, batteries, a whistle, dust masks and a wrench for shutting off utilities. Those are reasonable supplies, but they assume every member of the household is physically capable of using them and can survive without much else.

On the same website, the federal government acknowledges that about half the country takes a prescription medication every day and warns that disasters can make it difficult to reach a pharmacy or refill a prescription. Despite that, its printable emergency checklist places prescription drugs and eyeglasses under "additional items to consider," alongside sleeping bags, disposable plates and other optional supplies.

The medicine that keeps someone from having a seizure is optional. The whistle makes the basic list.

That contradiction should tell you everything you need to know about who these plans are designed for.

Half the Country Depends on Prescription Medication

According to the CDC, nearly half of Americans have taken at least one prescription drug during the previous 30 days. Roughly one-quarter take three or more medications, and more than 13 percent take five or more. Among adults over 60, prescription use is closer to 85 percent.

That means the average American household is more likely than not to contain someone who depends on a pharmacy.

Not every prescription becomes an immediate emergency when it runs out. Missing several days of a cholesterol medication may not cause any noticeable problem. Other drugs are a different story. Abruptly stopping certain blood-pressure medications can cause dangerous rebound symptoms. Missing anticonvulsants can trigger seizures in someone who has been stable for years. A person who depends on insulin may be dealing with a life-threatening emergency in hours, particularly if no medical care is available.