The Cabinet Office has issued new advice urging UK households to take simple steps to prepare for potential emergencies, including the purchase of battery or wind-up radios that do not rely on the National Grid.
The advice is the first stage of a three-year campaign to help households across the UK feel better prepared for events such as severe weather, which can occasionally affect services including power, water, phones and the internet, the government said.
What the Campaign Recommends
The campaign focuses on straightforward things people can do in advance, including signing up to the Priority Services Register – a service that helps gas, water, and electricity companies identify customers that may need extra support in an emergency – and keeping a small supply of non-perishable food and bottled water at home.
The government runs a website to prepare the country for all sorts of potential national disruptions, including war, bad weather and cyber attacks. As part of its list of advice for households, people are being told to buy battery or wind-up radios, because a radio that does not need power from the National Grid, which may be disrupted, could be used to disseminate emergency information to households in a crisis.
Guidance for Households
The advice says: “Battery or wind-up radios to get updates during a power cut – a car radio can be used, however, in severe weather it might be safer to stay inside.”
The UK Prepare site also urges families to get a battery or wind-up torch, as well as a portable power bank to charge your phone and spare AA batteries. The guidance also urges people to get bottled water, tinned food and, if applicable, baby supplies.
The government advice adds: “Consider what supplies you and your household might need during an emergency lasting a few days, such as a power cut or water outage, or situations where you are advised to stay at home or to leave your home (evacuate) for safety reasons.
“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’.”
Official Statements
The Cabinet Office's advice also says: "With storms last winter and the wildfires this summer showing how severe weather events can cause disruption to our everyday lives and impact the services we rely on, from phone signal to water and the internet, launching the campaign brings the UK into line with European peers who all run similar campaigns already."
Dan Jarvis MP, Security Minister, said: "Those who can follow this advice should follow this advice. By taking simple steps to be ready for everyday emergencies like severe storms, people can reduce pressure on emergency services, helping them prioritise people who need more support in an emergency."
Laura Scott, British Red Cross Director for UK Resilience, said: "We can’t control when emergencies happen, but we can all take some simple steps to be prepared, so that when they do, we are ready to help our friends, families and neighbours."
