You do not need a huge pile, and you do not need it all at once. Build it in two steps:
Step 1 — a starter buffer: one month of your essentials. Just this much already absorbs most small shocks — the broken screen, the clinic bill.
Step 2 — the real buffer: about three months of essentials, so even if your income stops for a while, you do not break.
Essentials means needs only — rent, food, transport — not your whole lifestyle. We are protecting your survival, not your soda budget.
Say your basic monthly needs are 200,000. Your starter target is 200,000; your full buffer is about 600,000. Big numbers? Start with one week — 50,000. A small real buffer beats a huge imaginary one every time. The win is starting.