Why are European governments advising people to prepare for emergencies?

[WhiteCab]

Why are governments around Europe telling people to stockpile and prepare things in case there's an emergency. They are saying emergencies like storms or war or something.

Is there a chance a world war will break out and of so what would that look like?

I find it odd how many governments in Europe are telling people to prepare. Do they know something we don't?

There are a huge number of threats that have escalated in recent years

the main ones I see would be

climate change coupled with El Niño - so that’s weather problems like extreme storms that can take down water and electricity and comms and make getting food to affected areas difficult even if you are not flooded or blown away yourself. This can also have an impact on food supply chains - poor harvests , rising prices, countries refusing to export food - the UK hasn’t been self sufficient in food for probably 100 years

war escalation in the Middle East - this can affect supply of fuel and goods from China. More likely to lead to increase prices and food scarcity. The fuel problem affects fertilisers which impacts yields. We have also destroyed our soil in search of short term cheap food which makes us more reliant on fertiliser

cyber attack probably from an increasingly desperate Russia but there are other hostile nations . this is more likely to affect electricity and comms systems. Electricity down means no heating or water ( pumped though systems which relies in power ) or lights or telly, food in the freezer is problematics, shops closed , shops can’t get deliveries any way

these threats have always existed but the lack of action over decades ( so don’t blame this government, blame the voters ) , the desire for cheap over resilient , the head in the sand approach to climate change means that these things have ramped up to quite bad levels. The reliance on interconnected systems , the removal of fuel storage, food storage means any disruption could be catastrophic

It has rather been blown out of proportion. But I think many people already have about a weeks worth of food in their cupboards - pasta, rice and tinned foods like beans and tuna. It would make for a boring menu but you wouldn’t starve. If the utilities went out that’s another issue though.
I think the recent fires and other issues in many areas have emphasised that some places that are isolated can have supply issues. I don’t think they are asking for every Tom, Dick and Harry (or Pedro, Paolo and Hans) to go full prepper mode.

Well they definitely do know somethings we don’t know

I think it’s sensible to have a few days of provisions and I believe this is what governments are advising of course some will go prepper mad!

I was watching what was happening in Bangkok earlier. I think people need to pay attention to any 'gentle' warnings the governments are dishing out. We've had our arses wiped for too long and you can tell!! when people say warnings about anything are overblown nonsense.

I was listening to a woman in Kent on the news a few weeks ago whose water supply had been out for 5 days, complaining that the water company hadn't provided them with a stand pipe, then they'd delivered a couple of litre bottles per person but that wasn't enough for even basic hygiene or for people to flush their toilets.

So it doesn't need to be a new threat for people to need to prepare because the authorities won't necessarily come to their rescue for a while. If there's a storm and roads are impassable and the power is out then people should definitely think about whether they would be able to feed themselves.

@WhiteCab
Surely it is obvious if you are following the news.
The countries closest to Russia/Ukraine are aware of the risk of the conflict escalating. Not necessarily the full blown invasion but Russia violating the airspace with drones, which has already been happening, the rockets being launched by “mistake”, acts of sabotage including blowing up railways and arson. These Russian acts are getting more and more reckless so may pose a substantial risk in near future. In Poland for example, people have been advised for several years to prepare an ‘evacuation rucksack’ containing essentials.
In others parts of Europe, as PPs have mentioned, it is sensible to be prepared for El Niño and food shortages/energy disruption caused by the Middle East conflict.

It's sensible advice and always has been to have basic provisions for a few weeks in. This includes medications.

I'm in Germany. Airraid sirons are reguarly tested and all newly turned 18 year old men have to fill in a form about their abilty to serve in the Army.

For a few weeks in! When was this sensible advice?

Strictly speaking the historic advice as evidenced by the bible tales is for 7 years worth of back up - 7 years of bad harvests in particular

and through the centuries there have been decades where that kind of resilience would have helped

we got through the 2nd world war by luck - a bad winter and we would have lost

But the government haven’t advised to store enough provisions for a few weeks despite what happened during biblical times

we got through the 2nd world war by luck - a bad winter and we would have lost

I think the US had some hand in us winning…