Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.26-113538/https://www.ft.com/content/eeb1ee80-00b8-4f9f-b560-a6717a80d58d

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.

    • @Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      13 months ago

      I’m definitely not prepared.

      Without water, gas or electricity, there’s not really much left in essentials I can use from my grocery shopping.

      I don’t know about you, but I usually buy fresh food that needs to be cooked, and drink water from tap.

  • @PieMePlenty@lemmy.world
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    43 months ago

    72 hours means you go to the store on Monday and then again on Friday. I thought this was kind of the norm for everyone? I mean, not for me, I go once every 10 days but surely 3 days is not that big of a deal?

  • @Mrkawfee@lemmy.world
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    73 months ago

    Given how quickly supermarket shelves emptied at the start of COVID, this is good advice generally for a crisis.

    • @wuzzlewoggle@feddit.org
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      43 months ago

      True. We had a pretty big storm here a couple of years ago and the next day the supermarket shelves were almost empty. We really don’t usually think about how fragile the supply chain is when it comes to a crisis.

  • @WhatYouNeed@lemmy.world
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    93 months ago

    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.

  • kbal
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    203 months ago

    72 hours? No problem. Always have a big bag of rice on hand and you’re done.

    • Tar_Alcaran
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      133 months ago

      Only if you have lots of water too. And preferably some way to heat it (though you can totally swell rice in cold water)

      • @Saleh@feddit.org
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        43 months ago

        This brings up an important point. You should have something like a camping stove running on propane or similar stored fuel.

        If the water supply fails you need to be able to cook water for drinking purposes.

        • @BastingChemina@slrpnk.net
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          13 months ago

          A coal bbq could work too and most people have one already, you can use it with wood as well.

          Even better, you can use a barbecue chimney starter as a kind of rocket stove.

        • Tar_Alcaran
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          63 months ago

          I just have a stack of canned stuff I rotate through. I put new ones at the bottom, and make sure the stack in always 4 cans tall. Costs nothing, things are always in stock on the shelves, and in case of emergency, there’s food.

          Of course, I also live about 5 meters below sea level, so if we have real, world war level problems and the pumps shut down and/someone blows up the dikes, I’m not going to shelter in place for months anyway.

  • @mumblerfish@lemmy.world
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    43 months ago

    Develop minimum preparedness criteria for essential services such as hospitals, schools, transport, and telecommunications.

    I hope they are taking this point seriously so that privatized welfare no longer gets special treatment.

    • Baggins
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      33 months ago

      Yes. Don’t forget batteries for torches and a couple of solar charger power banks for your phone.

    • Oniononon
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      13 months ago

      To survive the 3day smo you need a battery bank, some candles/flashlights as long as you don’t live on the border.

    • @CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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      3 months ago

      It’s not impossible they’re saying this because they figure that’s how fast the EU could beat Russia if Russia tried something. Or else you’d be dead from a nuke anyway.

  • @Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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    133 months ago

    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?

    • @RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      23 months ago

      I don’t have 72hrs of food at home, because I have almost no self control. 2 days of food can very easily also be one day of food haha

    • @lesatur@lemmy.wtf
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      3 months ago

      Germany’s advice for normal times is to be stocked up for 11 days. 3 Days compared to that is laughable even so it is better than 0.

      • @Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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        23 months ago

        Its not really something I think of because I am going to have easily days worth of food without even having to think about it. Stuff like pasta, rice and flour.

        11 days not so sure on, if I had just been shopping at the start of the 11 days then easily, but if it was from just before I go shopping then its harder to say. I would most likely be able to ration out what is left to cover 11 days but its going to be pretty basic by the end of it. Like fried rice with salt and pepper kind of thing.

        • @adoxographer@feddit.dk
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          83 months ago

          If your food needs water to be eaten then you need to store that extra water, which is by far the largest part you need to keep.

            • @adoxographer@feddit.dk
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              23 months ago

              I have tablets for purifying and rainwater, but that needs rain, and in winter it means fuel.

              Food for these days should not be dependent on water.

              • @Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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                13 months ago

                Unlikely to get that cold here that everything completely freezes, usually keep enough wood dry to boil a fair bit of water and I can easily go out to get more of necessary.

                • @adoxographer@feddit.dk
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                  23 months ago

                  That’s good, then can you read your original comment and see that other people are in other places with other situations? 😌

        • @lesatur@lemmy.wtf
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          13 months ago

          Nope the advice of BBK (Federal office of civil protection and disaster assistance) recommends to have consisted stocks for 11 days including water for drinking, basic hygiene and cooking.

          • @Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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            3 months ago

            Looks like that would be 6KG of rice for 2 people if done with rice alone. Don’t have that much, though with other ingredients typically in the kitchen I would probably be alright. Cooking oil is like 9000kcal for a litre. Fry the rice then would make it go further.

            Obviously chugging oil alone is unpleasant but you can just add a bit more than normal if you need to internationally increase the kcal of some meals.

    • @bstix@feddit.dk
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      153 months ago

      I don’t think the preparation is meant for full blown war. It’s for disruptions.

      Russia won’t be able drive tanks all over Europe any time soon, but they are capable of cutting cables to attack energy distribution, hacking payment methods and other infrastructure dependent on networks.

      Remember the start of Covid? There was plenty of toiletpapir, hand sanitizer and test kits for everyone, but nobody could get it in stores for a long time because everyone wanted it at the same time. It’s better if everyone stock up over a longer period of time, so it doesn’t crash the supply chain when it is needed.

  • ehrktia
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    53 months ago

    may be is start of ww-3; winter is coming

  • @Redfox8@mander.xyz
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    323 months ago

    Meanwhile, here in the Uk our government is making sure we won’t have enough money to buy more than two days of food at a time.

    • @thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works
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      183 months ago

      I mean, 14 consecutive years of Conservative leadership will do that to the best of nations.

      No doubt the UK has a MASSIVE uphill struggle ahead to bring back a sense of prosperity for its people, but it’s a bit disingenuous to make it sound as though it’s the fault of a Government that’s been in power for less than a year so far.

      It can take mere seconds to destroy something, and multiple times longer than that to fix it.

      In Australia, we are a couple years ahead of the UK (in terms of our first Labor Gov’t following a decade+ of Conservative leadership); things don’t magically get better overnight, but we are at least on the correct path now — here’s hoping we don’t fuck things up by voting the Cons back in later this year 😫

      • @Redfox8@mander.xyz
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        53 months ago

        Oh I’m well aware that the Con govmnt has been an appalling dismantling of our country, but Labour are so far appearing to largely be following suit. Remember the Tory repetition about the need for austerity? It just feels like a repeat of that, to put it very breifly. I know 14 years can’t be fixed overnight, but shitting on the poor and needy, who have been suffering the most already is just grotesque. There’s plenty of condemnation by journalists and MPs alike for this as well as some calls to tax the rich instead.

        I’ve never voted for either so I’m looking at what they do through neutral(ish!) eyes and I don’t see politics so much an ever increasing pandering to the corporate economy (over decades).

        I can’t say I’m too knowledgable about Aus politics, but got glimpses of how bad your last govmnt was through the Guardian. Hope you have a better time than us with a new set of faces!

    • @Atmoro@lemmy.world
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      33 months ago

      Do what you can to get your people onto here either through Lemmy itself or Voyager for Lemmy along with:

      Bluesky @bsky (All these on Bluesky), Flashes @flashes, Spark @sprk.so, Element @thematrixfoundation, Revolt @revolt.chat, Resonite (For fun) @resonite, & PeerTube @joinpeertube

      Gotta say the UK needs its own version of Run For Something @runforsomething organization. With multiple other accounts and organizations unifying to get stuff done as well

      Best of luck to ya mate, grow the movement in your country everyday!!

      • @Redfox8@mander.xyz
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        43 months ago

        Run for Something sounds good. We have a fairly healthy number of independent politicians in the UK I think but something like that can only help improve peoples involvement in local snd national government.

        Assuming you’re from the US by sharing that, I hope you have more than luck to help over there!

    • @Perhapsjustsniffit@lemmy.ca
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      173 months ago

      Canada here. Same for us in the food department. though I am less enthused about what may happen to us with yam tits raging downstairs.

      • Mubelotix
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        13 months ago

        Canada being highly dependant on imports, some items could completely disappear from stores in the even of a global conflict

        • @Perhapsjustsniffit@lemmy.ca
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          23 months ago

          Absolutely. Our family can grow enough for ourselves and a couple of other families. We have friends we basically coop with. We grow some things. They grow some things. We share. We also hunt fish and trap which helps and raise meat chickens and laying hens.

      • @ObtuseDoorFrame@lemm.ee
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        93 months ago

        Yam tits! That is genuinely a new one for me. Excellent.

        I’ll never, as long as I may live, get over the utter embarrassment of being born and raised in a country who could support that maniac. I suppose the worst thing I could do is leave. The only way to alleviate my shame is to stay and keep voting for the least insane option.

        • @Perhapsjustsniffit@lemmy.ca
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          53 months ago

          I freely admit I stole Yam TIts from another Lemmy user and I can’t remember who or I would certainly give them credit. I feel it gets right to the point one is trying to convey.

      • @CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        23 months ago

        I’ve almost fully figured out how to live off just cans at this point. I also have a basement greenhouse in the works, although I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the local commercial options.

        • @Perhapsjustsniffit@lemmy.ca
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          43 months ago

          We live rurally and don’t have much money as I have been disabled for almost a decade now. What we do have is seeds and gardens. Loads of them. A large greenhouse as well. We started a small farm before I got sick with the idea that if it didn’t make money at least we would be able to eat. Then I got sick and we just continued to plant. We are fortunate to have planned early to have space to do so. At first we helped others set up homesteads and growing in our area as well and still do to some extent but guess what…we do eat and are not so beholden to the grocery oligarchs and economic system. Any little bit you can do helps.

          • @CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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            3 months ago

            Yeah, not too far off from my situation. A full-blown greenhouse sounds awesome, I can only dream of that. How much time do you spend tending it?

            Mine is basically just to grow enough leafy greens to prevent scurvy and supply enough to go in sandwiches and maybe salads. Interestingly, parsley has the most vitamin C of non-tropical crops.

            • @Perhapsjustsniffit@lemmy.ca
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              13 months ago

              We start planting stuff inside and in the greenhouse in Feb/March and go through to November usually. I spend a few hours every day and my wife does as well mid season. She works a real job as well in summer so I’m on my own then. The growing is the easy part really. It’s all the storage and preservation that takes a while.

              • @CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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                13 months ago

                Hmm. Is there not enough sunlight Dec/Jan? If you could keep some things ready to harvest all year you wouldn’t have to worry so much about that.

                • @Perhapsjustsniffit@lemmy.ca
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                  3 months ago

                  We do keep greens and such here. We have about mid November to end of February where we don’t have enough light. If we have cold weather crops already grown they will almost always hold. We usually keep greens, hearty herbs and such all year round. If we get carrots and beets and stuff under planted they will also hold in the ground. It becomes a humidity and temperature fluctuation problem with them in the hightunnel. Not to mention bugs and rodents. It’s 20’x50’ and unheated so it gets quite cold at night in the winter.

                  We even grow figs now. Shouldn’t be able to do that here but climate change is real.

              • @CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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                13 months ago

                Hmm, maybe I just got a bad can or something. The custard is definitely Ambrosia. Maybe I bought a cheap generic…

                I’m not sure, it was a long time ago, and I only did it once. Maybe I’ll try again.

      • irelephant [he/him]🍭
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        13 months ago

        I guess it helps that Ireland is an island, though our defence is a joke. Our current plan is to rely on other countries for help.