Bangla Mirror Desk:

Under new government guidance aimed at ensuring that families across the UK can survive severe emergencies caused by extreme weather, cyberattacks or other serious threats, every UK resident is being urged to stockpile nine litres of bottled water and three days’ worth of food.

The “Be Ready” campaign aims to encourage people to keep essential supplies sufficient for at least 72 hours, amid growing government concerns about the effects of the climate crisis, dependence on technology and threats from hostile states.

Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: “Those who are able to follow this advice should do so. As part of a wider, community-based effort to build national resilience, these are essentially some common-sense steps for dealing with everyday emergencies.”

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the UK also needed to prepare for the threat of “state-sponsored terrorism” carried out by Russia or other hostile powers targeting civilian infrastructure.

He said: “Terms such as hybrid warfare and grey-zone threats do not communicate the issue accurately and clearly to the general public. I would feel more comfortable describing it as ‘state-sponsored terrorism’.

“Therefore, in the face of these threats—which are not imaginary but very real, and which are growing here rather than somewhere else—we need to be aware of them and take our national resilience just as seriously as our national defence.”

He added: “It is really important that our families and businesses ask themselves this question: are they prepared? Are they ready? Do they know how they would respond if a sudden crisis arose in their everyday lives?”

The new guidance advises the public to keep emergency first-aid supplies, a torch with batteries, a hand-crank or wind-up FM radio, blankets and cash at home. It also recommends storing three litres of drinking water per person per day, noting that additional water would be needed for cooking and washing.

The government indicated last August that UK residents would be advised to stockpile tinned food, but the Cabinet Office’s “Be Ready” campaign provides more specific guidance. An advertising campaign on social media and radio is due to follow.

In line with approaches adopted in France, Ireland and the Netherlands, keeping three days’ worth of supplies at home is being presented as a practical and achievable way to prepare the public for a major disaster.

Ministers launched the campaign ahead of the start of the winter storm season, following a series of powerful storms that recently battered the UK. In January, Storm Goretti, which brought winds of nearly 100 miles per hour, left thousands of homes without electricity across the Midlands, the South West and Wales.

There are also concerns about the potential effects of a global natural phenomenon known as a “super El Niño”. It could make 2027 the hottest year on record and, amid increasingly unpredictable climate patterns, severely disrupt food supply systems and the energy sector worldwide.

The guidance comes as reports emerge that 32 UK government websites were shut down as a precaution after a security vulnerability was discovered in the PHP programming language, which is used by millions of websites worldwide.

Highlighting modern society’s heavy reliance on the internet and other critical technologies, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre sent 50,000 warning notifications to affected organisations.

An indirect disaster caused by voltage instability in the power network left Spain and Portugal suddenly without electricity for several hours in April 2005.

The incident affected approximately 55 million people and was described as Europe’s largest power outage in recent memory.

Streeting said people needed to consider how they would respond to hybrid warfare attacks carried out by Russia or other hostile states. These include cyberattacks capable of disabling business transaction systems or completely collapsing supply chains.

The minister made the remarks during a visit to a new factory in Telford, in the West Midlands, which manufactures tank gun barrels. The facility, owned by German manufacturer Rheinmetall, has been established as part of efforts to accelerate the renewal and rearmament of the UK’s military capabilities in response to the Russian military threat. However, Streeting also emphasised the need for ordinary people to prepare for hybrid warfare and acts of sabotage that fall short of direct military conflict.

While monitoring underwater pipelines and cables connecting the UK to continental Europe and other regions, the Royal Navy has identified several Russian intelligence-gathering vessels. Concerns have emerged that these critical infrastructure links could one day be attacked, although such an action would represent a major escalation in the conflict by Moscow.

European countries are increasingly vocal about the threat of sabotage by hostile powers, particularly Russia, which could disrupt everyday life or directly threaten public safety. Such incidents have included the discovery last August of a drone carrying explosives next to a Ukrainian cargo aircraft at Leipzig Airport in Germany, as well as a series of explosions and fires at military defence facilities.

British governments have generally launched few public awareness campaigns of this kind, largely because of concerns that they could be accused of spreading panic.

In 1980, the government ran a campaign called “Protect and Survive”, which provided advice on how to survive a nuclear war. The campaign instructed the public on how to construct a bomb shelter at home and advised them to stockpile 14 days’ worth of food.