AIBU to wonder whether the three day emergency advice is serious?

[Mich1986]

I know I might sound crazy, but is anyone else worrying about all the posts about stockpiling and prepping for 3 days that the government is telling us to do? Is anyone actually taking their advice and buying torches, extra water and wind up radios? I just don’t know whether to take it seriously?

@DozyCrow I agree with you that any serious shit that hits the fan will result in the breakdown of law & order & I see little point in prepping for that.

@DozyCrow I agree with you that any serious shit that hits the fan will result in the breakdown of law & order & I see little point in prepping for that.

We were in Portugal a couple of years ago and experienced the 24 hour power outage. It was very sobering. Now have a wind up radio and probably need to get a couple of torches. Without power nothing works. Can’t shop, buy fuel, no light and very limited communication.

No one should have to 100% rely on government getting things back to normal after a few days- no one is particularly enamoured with government, you can believe/know that they're useless but saying they're useless won't really help your household in an emergency...

Not wasting battery in power cuts here.
I guess for me it's totally normal because I grew up with power cut every thunder and more severe weather (abroad) until they updated infrastructure when I was about 10 I think. I still charge everything if thunder is predicted even though I have not had power cut because of it for decades🙈

Exactly!!!!

I live rurally so I have torches, water, power banks, a few days of food just in case we have (yet another) power cut or our village is flooded (again)

that's just sensible

Russia are already attacking us. What makes you think that they aren’t?

3 days is sensible, it means if a storm system comes through you don’t have to panic buy, you can stay safe at home during the storm and wait until trees etc are cleared up before going to the shops? Having water, camp stove and torches plus battery radio means if there’s an associated power outage you are ok. No it won’t help in ww3 but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good practical advice. We don’t have water ourselves but there’s a river opposite we could get water from and boil or purify (have a life straw bottle for travel) I have enough food for the street, bit of a hoarder

We're not anxious enough in this country. Evidenced clearly by all the people aghast that they are expected to buy a torch and a bottle of water.

Not if your skint

How many people are really so skint they can't keep 6000 calories in their cupboards?

Even more reason to do your own household planning.
Had no choice in my home. DH serious disabilities and health conditions, also ex military (hence the disabilities) and has been telling me for months we need to be prepared for cyber attack/fuel shortages= power issues and the obvious possible weather. We've lived rural before so had some equipment already e.g wind up radio/torch/chargers and portable stoves, but are now stocked for food 3-4 weeks plus, water a lot, spare gas for the portable stoves, medications, pet supplies, batteries, wood for the outside fire pit, etc. It's not been easy due to a tight budget and took my small bit of savings, but, as we've bought only things we would use routinely in time, no money has been wasted and I have to be prepared due to our circumstances.

Couldn't agree more.

That’s a strange suggestion

Some people on this thread really do seem very anxious. As a PP said, if prepping helps people cope then I guess there’s no harm in it. But I hope people are able to find some perspective and not live their lives in a state of fear. Social media has a lot to answer for.

So you never make any adult decisions without a press conference or something coming through the door? You never watch any main stream news that clearly reports the coming fuel crisis, not noticed the rise at the pumps, the constant technical glitches and cyber issues, El Nino, the fact that Russia is extremely p*ssed at the UK as is Iran, inflation, etc etc etc

Well no because the government have actual
sophisticated communications strategies, not just subliminal messages to you.

you don’t know what the governments communication strategy is and I don’t know why you’d pretend you do.

Water butts here. And been storing tap water in sterilised containers for a couple of weeks. Water purification tablets in stock.

This is such an odd post. Are we taking about me, or are we talking about 60 million Brits who all need to get this message?

you reckon government comms is just “let’s say it once, let it get picked up by the metro then they can all make adult decisions” ???

I am definitely more panicked about the increased bills eg food, energy, mortgage rates & further taxes!

Well amongst my supplies I do also keep a few boxes of tena ladies!

The numbers of people unable to afford basic food is unfortunately rather high.

Have you really never seen news articles about this?

It's more than 10% of households iirc. Loads of parents miss meals to prioritise their kids.

I disagree. In the UK we've been fortunate to live in times of unusually sustained peace and prosperity. I don't think it is overly anxious to be aware that this could change.

I've spent time in the developing world, so I've seen first hand how vulnerable power and water networks can be. Any knowledge of history or the wider world would tell you that it really isn't overly anxious to be well prepared.

No it actually isn't. Exactly my take on it.

It doesn't help me "cope", I'm not a half wit fgs

I live rurally - my power goes out a lot and in the winter we get a lot of floods plus it's uncommon for the water to be out too

having additional food, water, light, power & heat sources is just a sensible adult thing to do

and as other posters have pointed out, this is completely normal advice in most other countries, it's only here where ppl behave as if it's akin to an infringement of human rights