The Government advice re emergency packs

Oh, and there can’t be advice about where to go (assuming we need to leave the house) as there is no expected emergency. The advice is not for war in particular but for any sort of disruption to normal life. In most cases we would probably be better off staying at home, but better to do that in relative comfort than to stumble around in the dark and cold, with nothing to eat or drink.

The advice is about as useful as the Civil Defence information films (remember that?) in the Sixties, during the Cold War years, instructing us to paint our windows with whitewash to reflect any nuclear flash.

A 1000 mega-ton atomic blast can be repelled with whitewash?

Purely a PR exercise, probably to give some obscure government dept something to do.

fancythat

I probably have a ciuple of questions.

Why lanterns and not torches?

And why has the government not told of places people are supposed to go/run to, without looking things up ourselves.

Lanterns are a lot safer than candles in the dark. Torches are equally good, but a lantern gives off light in all directions whereas a torch as a directed beam. I don’t suppose it matters much which you have, really. We also have head torches for ‘hands free’ activities.

The whistle is in case someone falls and needs to raise the alarm. Louder than shouting and uses less breath. Not much use in a box, I know, but in the event of a power cut or whatever, we can get it out. Advice is to wear it round the neck.

Oreo

I’m with your husband Doodledog I think they’re softening up the electorate for taxes going up to support more defence spending.
Which I’m totally on board with so no need for the apocalypse talk.

You (and he) may be right (I hope so!), but it’s doing no harm to prepare. Not for war - nothing we can do would prepare for that - but for a lengthy power cut, which is, apparently, not unlikely because of El Ninio, another pandemic, disruption to the supply chain or anything else. Citizens in other countries are far better at this than we have been.

I’ve always had an emergency box, but am reviewing and adding to it now as advised. I just think it’s the responsible thing to do, so if ‘something’ happens the government can concentrate on putting it right rather than having to bail out the unprepared. It also means that there will be no need to ‘panic buy’ whatever is necessary when things are difficult and people are fighting over the last bottle of water or tin of beans in the shop. Shortages are caused by those who have no reserves and need to buy when things are disrupted for whatever reason.

On Question Time last night the audience was asked who is following the advice to put a few things together in case of emergency. Virtually nobody raised their hand. Then they were asked who already had such a box and about two thirds did.

No problem GG13
I do think Gransnet will have to go down soon for patching, as the backend infrastructure runs with PHP too. Get your books ready everybody!

Time to get water tanks in the garden? Good for many things including fire fighting. A lot cheaper than paying water bills as we used to find out once, when we had a property with no mains water. Sadly, not the case for us now though we still have a couple of small ones for the garden. I bet you any money the government would scream from the rooftops if you tried it,though!

Oops sorry Casdon our posts have crossed in the ether.

On a really trivial note, what would we do if GN goes down for 3-7 days…

Casdon

There would be room to criticise the government for not asking us to be prepared, given what’s going on in the world currently - but criticising them for giving us sensible advice to make minimal preparations just in case - seriously??

I wasn’t criticising the government as such Casdon 🤦‍♀️

I was musing on their reasons for what is becoming a blanket message across all media.

While my 6yr old GC was eating their breakfast this morning, I had breakfast news on they were going over what was needed in the emergency box . GC got worried when the reporter mentioned paperwork and passports, he said Granny my passport isn’t here yet, what will happen to me?.

GC then went on with various scenarios, what happens if I am at school and the emergency happens, or I am at a friends house. Along with I don’t like baked beans, soup or tinned meat

I am mindful that there is a percentage of the population who will find the current prepping obsession the government is pushing is scary and could cause unnecessary stress.

fancythat

^I am hazarding a guess that if there are power outages, ATM problems, all culminating in food chain issues, the government can turn round and say we told you to prepare . This would lessen the need for state help…^

But for some of the things like this, why 3 days?
Why not 7 for example?

AI gives advice and suggests that 2 weeks is ideal - but imagine the amount of water😮

Sorry, I wasn’t aiming my post as a reply to yours GG13, we were typing at the same time.

It’s obvious from the news about the PHP issues on the internet that there is a lot of risk to systems at the moment and given society’s almost complete reliance on online activities now, which our government can’t control, it’s impossible to deny we are in a precarious position.

That is exactly what it is for gg13 - the government does not have the capacity to help vast amounts of the population in the event of a serious attack on our infrastructure. We must help ourselves. Forewarned is forearmed😊. Tbh I have no issue with it. We have signed up to our water company because we are ancient, but quite honestly I Have little faith in them being capable of anything in an emergency.

Galaxy

I quite regret following government advice during the last emergency so I have completely ignored it all.

Why and why?

I am hazarding a guess that if there are power outages, ATM problems, all culminating in food chain issues, the government can turn round and say we told you to prepare . This would lessen the need for state help…

But for some of the things like this, why 3 days?
Why not 7 for example?

There would be room to criticise the government for not asking us to be prepared, given what’s going on in the world currently - but criticising them for giving us sensible advice to make minimal preparations just in case - seriously??

Despite ordering a wind up radio I remain sceptical.

I guess most people have a supply of food in the house, with the current trend of tea lights everywhere they will provide some sort of light.

We both have power packs for our devices for travelling and going out with GC for their devices.

We always have wine, beer, fizz and snacks (large family always something to celebrate or commiserate)

I am hazarding a guess that if there are power outages, ATM problems, all culminating in food chain issues, the government can turn round and say we told you to prepare . This would lessen the need for state help…

fancythat

karmalady

Diversion tactics to scaremonger

Diversion from what?
And to scare for what reason?

I dont feel like I have a grasp on what we are supposed to be prepared for.

Initially it is the expected storms resulting from El Niño, but more stronger storms are expected because of all the extra energy in the oceans etc.

But I think that the government is expecting, as are all governments, cyber attacks on our infrastructure etc. I think that we must expect to take individual responsibility for our welfare in the event of an attack, and the government has issued guidance for this. Honestly it is simple common sense. Just like health we pay in in the hope we shall never need the nhs, so we prepare in the hope we shall never need it. No big deal.

I think it depends where you live fancythat. If you live rurally, you’re an idiot if you’ve not always been prepared for power cuts, phone blackouts, being cut off due to snow or floods etc. it’s basic, good housekeeping advice really, you don’t need to get into prepper territory..

Power outages in the South West no surprise with the storm, but I guess all the new windup radios and power packs have been brought out with people telling themselves how sensible they’ve been to buy them😊😊

Something feels off/not right. But I dont know what.

karmalady

Diversion tactics to scaremonger

Diversion from what?
And to scare for what reason?

I dont feel like I have a grasp on what we are supposed to be prepared for.

I probably have a ciuple of questions.

Why lanterns and not torches?

And why has the government not told of places people are supposed to go/run to, without looking things up ourselves.

Diversion tactics to scaremonger

Weird how prepping is now fashionable.
When say up to two years ago, people scoffed.

Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted Galaxy.

I quite regret following government advice during the last emergency so I have completely ignored it all.