#19,387
While Avian Flu Diary is primarily an infectious disease blog, individual and community preparedness (for all kinds of emergencies) is its secondary focus. In its archives you'll find hundreds of preparedness articles (link).
While calls for individual preparedness are common in the United States (see National Preparedness Month), in Europe is is far less often discussed.
Eighteen months ago, however, the EU made headlines after calling for all households to prepare for a wide array of disasters (see excerpts below).
What type of crises is the EU preparing for?
The EU is preparing for a broad spectrum of risks and threats, encompassing both natural and human-induced disasters. This includes:
- Natural disasters: floods, wildfires, earthquakes, and extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change.
- Human-induced disasters: industrial accidents, technological failures, and pandemics.
- Hybrid threats: cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns and foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI), and sabotage of critical infrastructure.
- Geopolitical crises: armed conflicts, including the possibility of armed aggression against Member States.
(SNIP)
Last December, we looked at the launch of Denk Vooruit: The Netherlands National Citizen Preparedness Drive, on how to prepare for the first 72 hours of an emergency (e.g. extreme weather, cyberattacks, terrorist attack, even armed conflict, etc.).Two months ago, in UK National Risk Register 2026 - Urges Citizen Preparedness, we looked at the UK government's sobering 223-page handbook for dealing with wide variety of disaster scenarios.
Households encouraged to take small, simple steps to stay prepared in an emergency
Households are being encouraged to take a few simple steps to stay prepared if everyday services are temporarily disrupted, under updated advice published today.Published:22 October 2026
Advice helps people feel better prepared for events such as severe weather, which can occasionally affect services like power, water, and the internet.
Campaign bolsters UK’s preparedness for emergencies, in line with European peers including France, Ireland and The Netherlands.
Simple steps include actions that are completely free, like signing up to the Priority Services Register, a service helping utility companies identify people most in need.
Households are being encouraged to take a few simple steps to stay prepared if everyday services are temporarily disrupted, under updated advice published today.
The advice is the first stage of a three-year campaign to help households across the UK feel better prepared for events such as severe weather, which can occasionally affect services including power, water, phones and the internet.
The campaign focuses on straightforward things people can do in advance, including signing up to the Priority Services Register - a service that helps gas, water, and electricity companies identify customers that may need extra support in an emergency - and keep a small supply of non-perishable food and bottled water at home.
With storms last winter and the wildfires this summer showing how severe weather events can cause disruption to our everyday lives and impact the services we rely on, from phone signal to water and the internet, launching the campaign brings the UK into line with European peers who all run similar campaigns already.
The government has worked with other countries to learn from their experience and best practice. For example, the advice to be prepared for three days of disruption that is at the heart of the UK campaign is also used by France, Ireland and The Netherlands.
The government has also worked closely with local resilience forums across the UK to root the advice in what works for local communities.
Dan Jarvis MP, Security Minister, said:Those who can follow this advice should follow this advice. By taking simple steps to be ready for everyday emergencies like severe storms, people can reduce pressure on emergency services, helping them prioritise people who need more support in an emergency.The ‘Be Ready’ campaign will build gradually over time. More than five hundred organisations across the UK, from charities to businesses, have already signed-up to share messaging and campaign assets within their networks and communities. Government channels like GOV.UK and social media accounts will also amplify content.
This is just the sort of community-focused campaign the UK needs to improve our resilience as a nation. It will bring us into line with European counterparts, where advice like this is a normal part of everyday life.
Over the coming weeks and months, social media and radio advertising will help reach audiences who may be particularly at-risk in everyday emergencies: families with young children and older people.
To ensure the updated advice is relevant and accessible to all, the ‘Be Ready’ campaign has been built in collaboration with charities and campaigners that work with groups that are often under-represented, including people with insecure housing and people who use foodbanks.
Many of the simple steps are quick and cost-free, like signing up to the Priority Services Register, and other steps are designed to be as low-cost as possible. The intention is that, if households that can take these steps do, emergency services will be able to prioritise those most in-need if an emergency were to happen.
The Government has published resilience advice for households since May 2024. While the ‘Be Ready’ campaign has seen the previous “Prepare” website updated with new messaging and branding, much of the advice has not changed and remains evergreen for households to follow.
Laura Scott, British Red Cross Director for UK Resilience, said:We can’t control when emergencies happen, but we can all take some simple steps to be prepared, so that when they do, we are ready to help our friends, families and neighbours.
We know from our work across the UK that local people know their communities best and want to play a part when a crisis happens. Having clear and trusted advice for people, especially those who may be more at-risk, could help reduce the impact of crises and even save lives.
You can visit the UK's Be Ready Campaign webpage for more details.
As we discussed a month ago in #NPM26: Making Preparedness a Priority, I consider 72 hours the bare minimum level of preparedness, and would strongly recommend striving for 7 to 14 days.
But it's a start. And once you achieve it, it can be added to over time.
While no one can predict with any certainty what the next big regional or national emergency will be (in the UK, or anywhere else in the world), a modicum of general preparedness can go a long way towards making a bad situation a little less dire.
So . . . if a disaster struck your area today, and the power went out, stores closed their doors, and water stopped flowing from your kitchen tap for the next 7 to 14 days . . . do you already have:
- A battery operated NWS Emergency Radio to find out what was going on, and to get vital instructions from emergency officials
- A decent first-aid kit, so that you can treat injuries
- Enough non-perishable food and water on hand to feed and hydrate your family (including pets) for the duration
- A way to provide light when the grid is down.
- A way to cook safely without electricity
- A way to purify or filter water
- A way to stay cool (fans) or warm when the power is out.
- A small supply of cash to use in case credit/debit machines are not working
- An emergency plan, including meeting places, emergency out-of-state contact numbers, a disaster buddy, and in case you must evacuate, a bug-out bag
- Spare supply of essential prescription medicines that you or your family may need
- A way to entertain yourself, or your kids, during a prolonged blackout
