How we work

In emergency topics, a wrong recommendation is not a style problem: it can change what someone does on the worst day of their life. So we would rather explain how we work than ask you to trust us.

Where the information comes from

We do not research from scratch what to do in an earthquake. Agencies with decades of data behind them already do that work. What we do is translate it into concrete decisions for a concrete household.

Our primary sources are FEMA and Ready.gov for general preparedness, NOAA and the National Weather Service for weather events, the USGS for earthquakes and the CDC for health topics. Where a local authority has different guidance for an area, the local guidance wins.

Every guide shows its sources in a visible card, with the date we checked them. If a figure has no source, it does not get published.

What the review date means

The date on each page is the last time someone read it end to end and confirmed it still matches the official recommendation.

We do not move it to look current. A guide reviewed eight months ago whose source has not changed is as valid as one from yesterday, and saying so is more useful than restamping the date every week.

How the calculators work

All of them run in your browser. We do not send how many people live with you, where you live or what you need to any server — not least because we do not need it to calculate.

Each tool shows the formula it uses and the assumptions it applies. If you disagree with an assumption, you can change it: we would rather you argue with the calculation than accept it unseen.

What we are not

ZonaProtec is not an official emergency source and does not claim to be. During an active emergency, instructions from your local authority take precedence over anything you read here.

We also do not give medical advice. When a recommendation touches medication or health conditions, the right answer is your doctor or your pharmacy.

How we are funded

The site is supported by advertising and Amazon affiliate commissions. That imposes two rules we enforce in the code itself:

Advertising goes around the content, never inside it. No ad is placed between the steps of a safety instruction, before a calculator result, or in a format that could be mistaken for an emergency button. All of them are labelled as advertising.

Products appear after the need is resolved, not before. We recommend product categories once the guide has explained what is needed and why. The commission does not change the price you pay or what we recommend, and the affiliate relationship is disclosed next to the links.

If these two rules ever conflict with revenue, usefulness wins. It is the only way this site is still worth anything in five years.

Errors and corrections

If you find something wrong, out of date or badly explained, write to us. Substantive corrections are noted on the corrected page alongside the new review date.