Germans told to stockpile

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

Germans are being told to stockpile enough food and water for 10 days, in case of a national emergency.

Sensible or scaremongering.

Any thoughts?

[caroldecker]

So no electrity? Really only need candles then? I am not saying disasters cannot happen, or nuclear attacks or biological attack. I just envisage such a thing in a western city where you could stay at home for 10 days and then everything has been restored to normal. As I say, either a couple of days or a long time.

[cozietoesie]

I think you ought to watch the two Blackouts, carol.

[gamerchick]

Only need candles? so what would you eat then, your stores?

[cozietoesie]

I had a memory that Blackout was on All4, gamer, but hadn't checked to see if it was still there. (It is.)

Thanks.

[gamerchick]

Heh I suggested watching it to the husband tonight, he gave me slidey eyes. I think that's a no then

[Lorelei76]

So do we know what made Germany decide to issue this advice?

[cozietoesie]

A 'long planned update' is the current story. Who can say? There's an argument that it would have caused unease whenever it was issued.

[Lorelei76]

I'm suspicious, I think it's more likely to be a thing that's arisen from recent security concerns.

I'm in a flat but I am as well prepped as I can be but will check the prep cupboard!

[Lorelei76]

PS I mean given the lack of space, I'm well prepped. I don't have a generator or anything like that.

[cozietoesie]

These things generally take ages to produce - the committees, the consultations, the proofing, the design etc etc. Who can tell?

[caroldecker]

gamer perhaps go shopping in the daytime? Just because a drama suggested otherwise, I am not convinced a power cut would cause a national breakdown - we had them in the 70's and no-one looted then.

[cozietoesie]

In the 70s, there were scheduled outages lasting - what - several hours each? People worked round them.

[Lorelei76]

Carol, when we talk about recovery scenarios at work things like electricity substations serving large areas going down. So there'd be issues with shops and food stocks of they had to run off generators.

I went to a great talk, so great I can't remember the guys name, lol, which covered a lot of issues around modern tech failure too. Years ago my doc asked me to keep on top of supplies of medication by having a month in hand.

[gamerchick]

You keep a fair bit of money in the house to be able to go shopping carol? What would you buy?

Electricity being off in the odd area for a few hours is different to being off over the entire country for more than a week. You really think you'd just be able to go shopping as normal?

[cozietoesie]

I actually think as much of the countryside as the towns. Imagine you're a dairy farmer, for example, with - say - 100/150 head of cows who need to be milked twice a day. Currently done in milking parlours.

OK - farmers should have some generator capacity to run the milking parlours but given the current financial constraints in the dairy industry, how many of the thousands of farms would have sufficient diesel stored to weather a bad and unplanned outage. (And how many farms could, these days, milk a herd, twice a day, by hand.)

[HexBramble]

First time prepped here and am wanting to start storing -can someone help me build a list? I've watched just 10 mins often film Blackout and am
Completely spooked. DH has his head in the sand but stockpiling and prepping can't be a bad thing. Please advise me!

[quicklydecides]

I wonder if slight buying stuff in, is better than nothing. I mean, I can't do the full on prep, I have absolutely no space. So am I better to do a bit, like even some water candles matches and a few tins?

[Lorelei76]

Quickly, yes I dont have space
Bottles of water, a wind up radio and torches, tinned food, long life milk, enough meds for a while if you have any essential ones, there's always a first aid kit here, candles, matches, loo roll

Apart from anything else, it's good even if it snows and the local supermarkets are suddenly empty! I've come home from work twice on very hot days to find the water cut off. Handy to have bottles just in case.

[cozietoesie]

If you have no space, then I reckon so quickly. A few extra tins - which you can rotate in the normal course of things - and make sure you always have a day or two ( at least) of essential meds and household supplies. A lantern and radio would be good if you can manage them.

(And keep the bath ready for filling' if you have one, and can't store water.)

[cozietoesie]

PS - and work out eg toileting arrangements in advance. (Have some masking tape in a drawer to be able to tape off the lever as well. It's staggering just how ingrained the habit of pulling that lever is and if the water's off, one flush is your lot.)

[teablanket]

I'm half an hour into Blackout and I'm bloody terrified! I tend to keep a fair bit in -- pastas and cans and jars and whatnot, and I have a camping stove and quite a bit of gas for it, but no water! Ack! We're in a pretty small flat, but surely I can carve out a space for a few 5l bottles.

[caroldecker]

i agree a couple of days is useful, but i have that in the freezer/cupboard anyway. Unless you are on the breadline, you must have a couple of days of food in the house anyway.

[cozietoesie]

Keep it reasonable according to your circumstances would be my advice. (Remember that water also goes stale so if nothing happens, you'll have to rotate it.) Planning, as always, is the main thing.

[cozietoesie]

Many people do already, carol, I agree - but you have to remember that it's not always immediately edible. Cooking without standard power sources - which might fail quickly in any crisis - and, possibly, in darkness isn't so easy. Even if you have enough water to be able to use it for that.

[Lorelei76]

cozie, in reality, I don't know how anyone without a garden can sort out toileting without it being really grim.