We need to have enough tinned food and bottled water to be self sufficient for three days

[CruCru]

There’s a thing in the Times about the Prepare campaign - people need to be prepared for risks like localised flooding, another pandemic, a mass cyberattack which cuts off the internet, disruption to UK space systems that affect GPS signals, conflict and nuclear attack.

I must admit that my first thought was that there are countries in the West Indies who have these sorts of rules - mainly in case of hurricanes. It probably would be useful to have bottled water if we had flooding and the mains water would be turned off. Am a bit horrified by the mention of nuclear war but perhaps this has been overly highlighted by the Times.

Have you seen this? What do you think?

And realistically what happens after three days? Will the water be magically uncontaminated

No, but they'll be able to sort out temporary clean water supplies, set up reception centres, or have done tests to check if the water is or isn't safe to drink.

Each household having a small amount of water available is just a first aid measure immediately after any adverse events.

But why would it take a couple of days to distribute water?
When there have been problems in the past there have been water trucks outside within hours.

No power means no way of accessing warehouses unless they have a generator - which will only run as long as they have fuel.
No power means no fuel to run the trucks
No power means no way of co-ordinating supplies or telling people where they can find them.
And that's just a few reasons for starters

Every few years we get snowed in (not able to drive) during the winter.

So we always have at least a couple of weeks of supplies in.

Because an emergency affecting the whole population, or at least large parts of the population, is very different from a small scale water issue in one area, while everything else is running normally. It would be impossible for the government to provide help to every single household straight away. And people need to understand that we have responsibilities as well as rights as citizens of a country - you can't just expect everything to be done for you, you have to play your part as well.

No power means no way of accessing warehouses unless they have a generator - which will only run as long as they have fuel.

Someone must have a key. Like a manual key probably, hopefully kept on site.

No power means no fuel to run the trucks

Surely surely not even our government are that dumb to leave response vehicles empty without also a refuelling supply, surely?

No power means no way of co-ordinating supplies or telling people where they can find them

CB radios for the vehicles, battery FM local radios for others plus community spirit of knocking on doors and checking on neighbours.

Why is it people in London, specifically, who need to make sure they have tinned food in? Most people live in a town or city - quite a few people on here seem to have enormous larders, private streams and chickens but I think that's fairly rare.

Got to admit that the thread has moved on quite a pace from when I last posted.

Yes but the past is the past, there are other very realistic threats now like cyber attacks.

@CruCru - That's what you get from Scaremongering. A panicked thread

I looked online and all I can see is it's basically in the London Area. I didnt delve too much as I'm not in the London area. I'm currently in Yorkshire.

Exactly. This is two pages out of the booklet we received. Sums it up pretty well.

Ha! Not round here. The bottle collection sites were jammed solid snd kept running out and those of us who were supposed to get deliveries from the water company for reasons of age or infirmity, did not. I was fine, I had some in, was able to get more from Amazon which I shared with neighbours. As I said, I had full water butts and purification tablets. Granted it was quite a widespread problem but in a lowish population area, also nowhere near as widespread or long as it might have been in a proper disaster. We never got tankers.

Should one not start threads about what is on the news then? In case others find them stressful? It seems as though quite a few people on here have rather enjoyed describing their preppers' cupboards.

I'm looking at the article now - it says "Households should ensure their cupboards have enough tinned food and bottled water to be self-sufficient for at least three days in order to be prepared for a national crisis". It doesn't mention London.

It's up to you what you do. It's an article in the Times, not an edict from God. No one will come and inspect your pantry. Unless you invite them to.

I'm not a 'prepper' and don't intend to start now because a Tory MP is wanting some publicity. But for a long time now I've had small, cheap torches in practically every part of the house. I also have matches and candles. If the electricty, etc, was gone how would I find my tins, water, candles, toilet rolls in the dark without causing myself a mischief if I didn't have torches? I think I may have started the stash of torches after warnings of solar flares.The most likely threat to happen is a cyber attack,targetting banks.
If you do one thing,keep a stash of cash in your house.

I also always have cash in the house and in my purse when I go out. If, as someone above pointed out above, there was a cyber attack on our financial institutions, and/or their software crashed, what are we going to trade with? It's not going to be the stored can of kidney beans.

Older people have more experience of life and so more experience of what actually happens when some scenarios like having no power, no petrol availability, water cut off etc actually play out. And not only that, but these things can actually happen.

Most people just aren't capable of thinking in a way that helps them understand the spiraling consequences of many service outages, because in many cases they actually have to experience them directly in order to understand what can actually happen.

A lot of things in society exist in a chain, built on services being available. Knock out one of those services and all of a sudden things can go really tits up.

For example someone I was speaking to said they were OK in a electric outage because their boiler runs on gas. But nearly all boilers need electricity to function and pump the fluid round the heating circuit. Epic fail. But this is exactly the sort of stuff people don't think about.

Space weather should be a huge concern and a good reason to stock some reserves. If we had another Carrington event, we would be in that national crisis that they mention.

'The most likely threat to happen is a cyber attack,targetting banks.' > Sorry, should have omitted that - it was a cut and paste from a previous poster to remind me to mention why I think having cash is important 🙄

It's all fine, it's a lovely late spring bank holiday weekend. There is an FA Cup final and no rain forecast.

If we are all going to hell in a handcart next week then fine, whatever, deal with things when they happen.

When things really hit the fan there are far more nice people than selfish ones in the world. There really are. If someone needed our last bottle of safe water for their baby's formula they could have it, I would even heat it up for them on our camping stove. And work out where to get more water from afterwards.

I might get an extra bottle of wine just to make sure if I am faced with Armageddon then I would rather have a wine with an ice cube in it (before they all melt) than not have a wine and an ice cube. (there was plenty of wine in the supermarket today, no water, but plenty of wine, guess it saves Jesus a job)

As for a cyber attack there are teams of very clever white hats who clearly want to get paid royally for their skills, but they're on it, they are ready to minimalize the damage at the stoke of a keyboard.

Why are people saying it's just London, where does it say that

I have read quite big chunks of this thread on and off, probably not all of it.

I did find this link Oliver Dowden to tell Brits to stockpile three days worth of emergency supplies in case... - LBC

So it seems that this was unveiled at the "London Defence Conference" - possibly where the London connection comes from?

However, it doesn't appear to be specifically for London alone, as far as I can see.

"The most common risk is localised flooding, according to the government’s risk register, leading to power and water outages. But among the 100 other potential threats people should be prepared for include another pandemic, a mass cyberattack that cuts off the internet, disruption to UK space systems that affect GPS signals — or, in an extreme case, could include conflict or even the potential for a nuclear attack in continental Europe."

• "What should you have in an emergency home kit?A list of emergency contact numbers. This should be a paper copy, in case your mobile phone loses power.
• A battery-operated torch and spare batteries, or a wind-up torch.
• Battery-operated radio and spare batteries, or a wind-up radio.
• Any essential medication and a first aid kit.
• Three days’ supply of bottled water and ready-to-eat food that won’t go off.
• Copies of important documents, such as insurance policies and birth certificates. Keep these in a waterproof bag.
• Pencil, paper, penknife and whistle.
• Spare keys to your home and car.
• Spare glasses or contact lenses.
• Baby and pet supplies if needed."

Seems quite sensible to me.

If I cant get tinned stuff or water, can I live off chocolate for 3 days? Chocolate, crips and wine with a multi vitamin, sure that will be OK :)

I have just realised that I have a family member with essential and very expensive medication that needs to be kept in a fridge.

So we would be really vulnerable if without power for 3 days. We need to think really carefully about a contingency plan.

That would make you horribly thirsty.

The dehydration from the alcohol, the salt in the crisps. Chocolate always makes me a bit thirsty for some reason as well.

My guess is you would be begging for water at the end of day 1 and in real trouble by day 3 as you attempt to glug more wine to quench your thirst, only to make yourself more thirsty and dehydrated in the process.

It’s not long ago I finally finished eating the tuna in my Brexit cupboard. (Tinned artichokes anyone? Why I bought so many I have no idea!). Don’t tell me a need to start another one!