Emergency preparedness- community

[PuddingAunt]

Looking at all the prepping threads and seeing lots of talk of keeping gas stoves, candles, power packs in homes for light/warmth/ hot food.
Wouldn't it be an idea to have a network of local shops/ cafes that in an emergency can provide hot food and water at affordable prices?
Where drinking water and off-grid power can be stored/provided safely?
(Shouldn't the water companies be responsible for preparing to provide water in an emergency anyway?)
Apologies if there is already a thread on this.

Honestly OP your suggestion was that shops should sell their stock. It isn't somethjng that needs to be thought through. They will if they can, it's pretty much how they operate.

The water companies do provide water, but distributing it could take a while if a large area was affected or if access was difficult.

It's not bad tempered to point out the flaws in your idea.

@PuddingAunt “My local council has not held any meetings about emergency planning”

public meetings? They may not have had any of those but they will certainly have had them privately.

have you looked at all the meeting notes that should be publicly available? Are you sure there’s nothing there because I would be really surprised if that was true?

After Arwen two of our village businesses gained some grant funding to install generators, the chip shop to provide emergency food through a SSEN contract and the butcher to keep their fridges and freezer going. Our hall got an SSEN grant for a generator that will power all of the lighting, pump for the gas boiler and ventilation for the gas cooker. So we can make some basic food have that added to by folksdomestic cupboards and heat food for those who bring their diet related foods. We don't expect the rural community to come in except to get news as woodburners and personal generators have become normal there. If there was a disrumption to water supplies I would expect the 2 branch shops and the independent grocer to bring their bottled water supplies to the hall once their employees are catered for similarily any bread and perishable biscuits/cake - the rest is theirs to deal with as chill chain rules apply and why should they lose ambient stock value and also they need to secure their premises.

I'm not sure if you realise quite how quickly these places would become targets for looting and theft, if the shit really does hit the fan. They'd be quite vulnerable. Do you remember the extra security required on the doors of supermarkets during COVID, if there was some kind of of power outage or water shortage a segment of the population will lose their minds quite quickly.