@afewbugs Excellent thread that’s worth everyone’s time to read all the way through. Thank you for doing this.

@afewbugs This is a great thread, very thorough!

It's funny though, growing up in New Zealand we had disaster preparedness drilled into us regularly at school, so this advice from the government seems banal to me - not scaremongering at all. The inside cover of the phone book was devoted to civil defence instructions for various types of disaster, it was that pervasive. But I can see how it would come across differently somewhere without the ever-present threat of earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.

@afewbugs Helpful thread! Bearing in mind the wide range of disasters that could happen (anywhere!) then my suggestion to increase our state of readiness is free, essential, and incredibly flexible.

Get to know your neighbours. In almost any disaster, knowing who is who in your neighbourhood, and having a few friendly people to ask for help or give help to, is a massive advantage.

@afewbugs Thanks for all of this. Honestly thinking of printing it in case the time I need it is also a time without reliable internet

@afewbugs Great thread! I might add a few supplementary things:

1. A home first aid kit, maybe with additional bandages and some OTC meds like paracetamol, ibuprofen gel and Savlon

2. A supply of batteries and some battery powered lamps (cheaply available and last ages, more practical than candles)

3. I keep a supply of disposable lighters in case candles turn out to be necessary

4. A few basic gadgets that can be plugged into the battery pack (rice cooker/soup maker)

@afewbugs Add extra stocks of things like antihistamines and ibuprofen that tend to have go other usage if one is needing to do more physically than usual. Days without accustomed resources can get exhausting and painful fast, there can be surprise mold or dust, etc.

@afewbugs

Thank you for that! It’s always the water that bugs me, it’s bulky, needs refreshing frequently and you use far more of it than you think! Any more than 5 days and you’re really struggling domestically.

More conspiratorially I would be surprised if extreme weather was the only thing they’re worried about and not the current grey zone conflict that all the warmongers have stirred up that can take out the infrastructure remotely.

@afewbugs Useful thread. Thanks. Intrigued by the need for a black water storage container - we usually have a few supermarket (ie cheap) bottles of springwater (usually leftovers from festival season), and the use by is crazy long. Yet they are clear. I'm guessing because they are sterile when bottled?

(Note, I’m definitely not saying you're wrong. Just intrigued how the clear springwater bottles can stay fresh for so long)

@afewbugs We had a think about this. Our loft/attic has a 100 litre tank. Most UK houses do for historical reasons. We also have a 2 ring camping stove with enough gas to cook for a couple of weeks at least. And we generally have enough tins and dried carbs to last a few days at least, depending. So we're probably OK.

(The loft tanks are basically giant one-way valves to ensure that grey water can never flow back into the mains. When indoor plumbing was invented that seemed logical).

@afewbugs because of our location we (and neighbours) tend to keep a min food stockpile that builds up in autumn and reduces in summer. Except water, never short of that here.

Currently, 12kg rice, 6kg pasta, 2kg oats. 24 cans tomatoes (farmfoods sell those by the case), other tinned goods such as fish, 12 cans various beans. 12l oatmilk, 4x 350g coffee, teabags, etc.

Freezer also full of veg, bread, quorn. Have a generator that can run the freezer if needed. Other stuff beyond these basics.

@afewbugs I note that the 10" water filter tubes (typically used with, dunno, 100 and 5 μm filters?) seem to be selling well/baiting panic buyers on eBay. Like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232599320911 .

Might be worth waiting a month before buying anything, ignoring the likelihood that such a delay will make something terrible happen in the next few weeks.

@afewbugs I'm getting vibes of the old Protect and Survive material from the cold war. There was a booklet you could order from the Home Office, and also some quite disturbing films which were classified and only meant to be shown if a nuclear attack was expected.
http://atomica.co.uk/

@afewbugs you are such a brill fount of knowledge, and it is so appreciated that you share it, thank you 💚

So I want to start out by saying this feels like a complete delegation of responsibility on the part of the UK government to basically tell households to fend for themselves if the basic necessities of life are interrupted, rather than accepting that it's the government's job to ensure that they're not. And also to say that I'm going to talk about helpful things that require purchasing, which not everyone can afford to do. And there are a lot of households in this country who can't even afford the food they need today, let alone to stockpile in advance, and that is also a result of the government neglecting its role to look after the people of the country.

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