EU households should stockpile essential supplies to survive at least 72 hours of crisis, Brussels has proposed, as Russia’s war in Ukraine and a darkening geopolitical landscape prompt the bloc to take new steps to increase its security.
The continuing conflict in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic that brutally exposed a lack of crisis response capabilities and the Trump administration’s adversarial stance towards Europe have forced the continent to rethink its vulnerabilities and increase spending on defence and security.
The new initiative comes as European intelligence agencies warn that Russia could attack an EU member state within three to five years, adding to natural threats including floods and wildfires worsened by climate change and societal risks such as financial crises.
Europe faced increased threats “including the possibility of armed aggression against member states”, the European Commission warned on Wednesday as it published a 30-step plan for its 27 capitals to increase their preparedness for crisis and mitigation measures.
Just a question for people here who do not have 72 hours of food stored in their homes? Do you go to the supermarket every day? Or do you cook at all? What are you doing on the weekend? What happens when you're sick and can't go shopping?
I read that as 72 days at first and thought something serious was expected soon. Oh, 72 HOURS. Who doesn't have that?
Also unless you are on the border, how useful is that likely to be? What would the expectation be, only short term supply chain disruption so shops may run out of something in the first few days but after that food supply will adjust to it?
I could survive 72 hours on the food I have at home at any time, it won't be grand tho and I'll still need electricity to make most of it.
Once I move I'm planning on having a small stockpile (cause I'll finally have space for it) to last about 2 weeks or so, worst case I just need to eat it and restock it later and best case it saves me a lot of hassle in a crisis.
My grandma lived through WWII and rationing. After she died, we were cleaning out her house to find she had hidden cans of food stockpiled everywhere: behind the washing machine, in the pit in her garage, in the corners of her loft, everywhere.
If rationing ever came back in, she was more than ready for it.
That has been the recommendation for civil protection for a while already. Not so much because of the risks of war, but e. g. floodings, power outages, storms etc. And most importantly you should stockpile water, because at a power outage, there will be no tap water anymore. That's the most important bit people here seem to forget. So nothing new here, actually.
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