Taiwan’s government has promoted household preparedness for years – a consequence of existing on the Pacific Ring of Fire and across the Taiwan Strait from mainland China. Public awareness and follow-through have varied but a recent combination of increased seismic activity, typhoons and a more belligerent Beijing has created genuine demand – and the private market has been quick to capitalise.

SafeTaiwan began selling evacuation kits last year, tapping into growing demand for well-designed, ready-to-go supplies. The start-up’s best-seller remains the standard adult pack: a waterproof backpack stocked with items including thermal blankets, gloves, saline, a whistle and gauze. But there’s a new product on sale: the pet kit. It’s a quirky entry point into the otherwise serious trend of disaster preparedness. Inside are items such as collapsible bowls, a water feeder and a kitty-litter scoop. “About one in three or four households in Taiwan keeps a pet,” says founder Bonny Lu. “For many people, their animals are like their children.”

Lu, a former pet-food entrepreneur, ventured into the disaster-prep market after failing to find a ready-made kit suitable for earthquakes. Taiwan experiences frequent tremors and last year saw its strongest quake in 25 years. “I couldn’t find a complete emergency kit that met my needs,” she tells Monocle from the company’s Taipei headquarters. “So I tried assembling one myself. I hadn’t expected the process to be so troublesome.” The inconvenience became a business opportunity; one that now supplies kits to households, schools and corporations.

Sales rose steadily before surging this summer when the American Institute in Taiwan – Washington’s de facto embassy – urged residents to prepare their own “go bags”. SafeTaiwan’s sales jumped eightfold as households prepared themselves, their children and their animals for disaster. “At the beginning, most people imagined emergency scenarios only as earthquakes,” says Lu. “But starting last year, more people became concerned about political conflict and other types of disasters.”

The company’s fortunes now rise and fall with the news cycle: a major quake in the Asia Pacific region sends demand for earthquake kits rising; military flare-ups abroad or Chinese navy drills in the waters around Taiwan put war top of mind; and news of a super typhoon brewing in the South China Seas dials up the number of customer enquiries about flood-proof gear.

And it’s not just coats, blankets and bags flying off the shelves. Radios, the classic standby of any emergency kit, are also enjoying a renaissance. Taiwan-based Sangean, one of the country’s best-known radio manufacturers, reports strong demand for its crank-powered, solar-ready emergency models – built to withstand blackouts, storms and even electromagnetic interference – which has now become its global bestseller.

The trend is a convergence of function and form that has become a hallmark of Taiwan’s small but nimble preparedness sector. Its kits resemble commuter bags rather than bulky military gear and many of the designs look disarmingly cute for such a bleak concept. The entry-level items of thermal blankets, flashlights and water filters are practical but not intimidating. Some are even sweet. “We tell people to focus on having the basics first and then improve from there,” says Lu. “The important thing is simply to start.”

By framing preparedness as a sensible precaution rather than wild paranoia, SafeTaiwan makes its kits an easier sell. Far better to have a bag by the door packed with supplies for everyone, including a litter scooper for Kitty and a bowl for Fido, than to be caught short in the next big storm. For an island where uncertainty is a constant, preparedness has quietly become both a mindset and a market.