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London- Alsharq Tribune- Sarah Benkraouda
It's not something that most of us want to think about. But the government does. In fact, the UK government has an entire website dedicated to getting the British public to plan for and be ready for all sorts of national emergencies, from the outbreak of conflict to large-scale power outages, climate catastrophes or supply chain breakdowns.
The UK Prepare website is all about encouraging the UK's population to plan for the worst case scenarios and be ready to meet any such issues without notice. One of the key tips that UK Prepare shares with households is to place a set of emergency preparation items in your car.
It says that UK households should gather emergency supplies, in case of an "emergency lasting a few days," such as a power cut, water outage, or situations where you're asked to stay home or, conversely, asked to evacuate. UK Prepare says part of this planning should involve putting eight items in the boot of your car now, including a torch, spare blankets, warm clothes and some food and drink.
It adds: "It can be helpful to keep these items in one place in your home and ideally somewhere easy to find if the lights aren't working - if you are escaping your house due to a fire you should not take anything with you at all.
You could consider keeping items you might need to take with you if asked to leave your home quickly in a spare bag - you might hear some people call this a 'grab bag'.
"Pack a few essential items in your car boot to make sure you're ready in case of getting stuck in wintry weather - this can include a torch, in-car phone charger, warm clothes and blankets, high-visibility clothing, jump leads, food and drink, and a shovel for snow. It can also be helpful to keep a first aid kit in your car."
But you needn't rush out to panic buy, instead think about building up your emergency supplies each time you go shopping.
It adds: "Rather than buying all the items at once, you could just add to your emergency kit when you are able and build it up over time."
Ministers are stepping up calls for the whole of society to become more resilient and plan to carry out a cross-government exercise on how to deal with crises, not just of a military nature but of any kind, in an increasingly unstable world picture.
In a security strategy published by the UK government, ministers said the UK finds itself in "an era in which we face confrontation with those who are threatening our security".
The strategy said: "Some adversaries are laying the foundations for future conflict, positioning themselves to move quickly to cause major disruption to our energy and or supply chains, to deter us from standing up to their aggression. For the first time in many years, we have to actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario."
