In a never-used bathtub in my home, I have two bins containing food, first-aid supplies, batteries and red duct tape.

These are my mementos of the great duct tape panic of 2003  - that single week when, thanks to some scary statements by then-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Americans cleared the aisles of tape (to seal up windows in case of chemical attack) and bottled water.

By the time I got to Home Depot  - as part of a story assignment to put together my own home disaster kit and plan  - plain gray duct tape was gone. The grocery store was out of can openers, and the camping store was out of lightweight emergency blankets.

What a difference five years makes.

Today  - despite plenty of evidence that disasters, from hurricanes to major terrorist attacks, can happen  - any sense of urgency Americans felt about preparing for them appears to have passed. When surveyed, most people say they have no home emergency kits or disaster plans. And quite a few, I suspect, have outdated kits and plans, as I do.

Even those in hurricane-prone areas are unprepared, despite memories of Katrina: In a survey this spring, 56% of coastal residents said they had no family emergency plan (such as evacuation routes and meeting places), and 67% said they had no survival kit (supplies such as extra water, food and medications).

"It's almost like (disaster preparedness) was some kind of fad," says Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University and author of the 2006 book Americans at Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared for Megadisasters and What We Can Do Now.

In its most recent survey, in 2007, the center found that just 34% of people had started preparing for a major disaster; 43% said they had no plans to do so. Redlener said he suspects this year's survey will find a drop in preparedness. "We think the economy is going to have an impact," he says.

People struggling to pay for gas and groceries may feel "much more pressing needs" than an extra three-day cache of water and food, plus expensive first-aid supplies and extra prescription medications (which insurers may prevent people from obtaining anyway), says Jeff Levi, director of Trust for America's Health, a non-profit group that promotes disease prevention.

The group recently criticized draft federal recommendations that call for every household to stockpile 20 disposable respirators and up to 100 face masks, costing up to $70, in preparation for a flu pandemic. "Piling on more recommendations" that many people can't or won't follow is senseless, Levi says.

But experts stress that you don't have to spend a lot of money to take some important steps. For example, you could talk with family members today about how you'd contact each other and where you'd meet if a disaster left you separated, says Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. You could locate the flashlights and batteries you already have. You could remember that when mass power outages occur, gas pumps don't work, so you could plan to keep your tank at least half-full from now on, despite high gas prices.