UK Launches ‘Be Ready’ Campaign, Advises Families to Keep Three Days of Emergency Supplies

The UK government has launched a three-year emergency preparedness campaign urging households to stockpile essential items to cope with potential disruptions caused by extreme weather, cyberattacks and other unexpected events.

The “Be Ready” initiative recommends that families keep enough supplies to last three days, including bottled water, non-perishable food, spare batteries and other basic necessities.

UK leader Andy Burnham highlighted the campaign on Friday while hosting a wildfire and resilience summit. The initiative’s checklist, published on Thursday, also advises residents to keep a battery-powered or wind-up FM radio for emergency updates, as well as cash in the event that electronic payment systems and ATMs stop working.

Sleeping bags and toiletries are among the other recommended items. The guidance is similar to emergency preparedness advice already issued in France, Ireland and the Netherlands.

“We’re having the conversation with people about being better prepared because we’re living in a world where unexpected events seem to be becoming more and more common,” Burnham said, pointing to storms as one example.

“It is just having those supplies in the house to get you through those moments. So we are having that conversation about resilience.”

The campaign comes as the UK strengthens its response to increasingly severe wildfire risks. Speaking to fire chiefs, local authorities and experts in Liverpool, northwest England, Burnham said military helicopters and aircraft would be equipped to help fight wildfires.

The government also plans to provide English firefighting services with additional specialist wildfire teams and lightweight protective equipment. Up to £45 million ($60 million) has been earmarked to address the growing threat posed by blazes.

In recent years, the UK has experienced recurring droughts, extreme temperatures and wildfires during the summer, which scientists attribute in part to human-induced climate change.

A major blaze in Stourbridge, central England, in August destroyed 19 houses and damaged 18 others. During a visit following the incident, Burnham said Britain must acknowledge the changing climate and speed up its transition to clean energy.

His position on climate policy has nevertheless attracted criticism from environmental campaigners following his approval this week of plans to begin new drilling in a controversial North Sea gas field.

Defence Minister Wes Streeting said the government’s preparedness drive was designed to encourage vigilance rather than fear.

Speaking to the BBC late on Thursday, he said the government wanted “people to be alert but not alarmed”.

Streeting had earlier urged households and businesses to assess their readiness for disruptions to essential supply chains caused by hostile state actors or terrorists.

“How would we cope if the payment systems at the local supermarket went down?” he asked.

Recent incidents have highlighted such risks. Major French supermarket chains were hit by a cyberattack this month that caused refrigerators in hundreds of stores to rise in temperature, resulting in spoiled food being discarded.

In another development this week, governments and companies worldwide shut down websites after artificial intelligence uncovered critical flaws in PHP, a programming language used to run about 70 per cent of websites globally.

The UK’s “Be Ready” campaign seeks to ensure that households have the basic supplies and information needed to cope when essential services are disrupted.

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