Be Prepared
What The Guide Says
The UK is fundamentally a safe and secure country. We live in one of the world's most advanced and digitalised societies with a well-developed and integrated infrastructure, which means we have stable access to basic necessities such as electricity, water, heating, communications and food.
But we are also vulnerable
Everything that we take for granted - running taps, switching on lights, the ability to text and call each other - is vulnerable to interruption during a crisis. What's more, distruption in one area can have major consequences in others: during a power cut for example, fridges will not work, trains will not run and supermarkets cannot open.
It is recommended advice that every household should be able to manage for at least three days should a crisis strike.[1]
In March 2025, the EU launched a new Preparedness Union Strategy which aims to respond to crisis by taking a whole-society approach. It asks all EU citizens to be ready to be self-sufficient for 72 hours (three days). Our UK government is not taking these steps, or at least not at the current moment.[*1] While it does have detailed guidance on its own Prepare website, which we encourage you to look at, it is not getting this information out there. You have to go looking for it. So if this guide comes as a shock to you, it is no wonder and we do not blame anyone for finding it a bit unnerving or seeming a little ominous!
We'd like to reassure you that the message we have is one of positivity, community, kindness and working together to support each other if we hit hard times, here in Ely or as a country as whole. Our guiding belief is simply this:
If every household in the UK had one week's store of basic emergency supplies, imagine how resilient we would be as a country.
But the reality is that most UK households are grossly underprepared: only 14% are ready for a water crisis, and over 70% lack a plan to manage during a power cut, flood or another pandemic.
This handbook will give you the information and guidance you need to be prepared for short-term crisis or disruption to services. It covers what you can do beforehand, and what you need to do during a situation, so that you and your family can get through any situation comfortably, and even be in a position to be able to help others do the same.
Rationale, background and more
In the past few decades the UK has been a country with reliable supply lines for food, fuel, medicines and the other essentials of life. Instability around the globe appeared remote and unlikely seriously to affect the lives of ordinary citizens. People, including professional emergency planners who were concerned that the stability should not be taken for granted were outliers. Recent political events have brought those concerns to the fore and an understanding seems to be growing that being prepared is a prudent measure.
Whilst far the only example, concerns voiced in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review[3] are an example of how civil resilience is seen as an important part of defending society.
References
- ^ UK Government 'Get Prepared' advice
- ^ UK Government 'Be Ready' campaign
- ^ Uk Strategic Defence Review