Inside the New Era of Emergency Readiness

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Caitlin McCabe (0:17)

Hey, What's News listeners. It's Sunday, October 26th. I'm Caitlin McCabe for The Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News Sunday. On the show this week, we take a look at prepping, the expanding universe of survival prep. For decades, preppers were cast as people who were building bunkers or stowing away resources for a looming apocalypse. But in a world filled with increasing threats, governments and people are increasingly finding that being prepared is just plain prudent.

Dan Goss (0:48)

I can imagine people would want to adapt to that increasing uncertainty by trying to get themselves more prepared.

Torsten Schaak-Pillersen (0:56)

If critical infrastructure were to fall out, whether it's manmade or it could be a natural disaster, it is important that most of the people are able to take care of themselves.

Kylene Jones (1:08)

This is new territory. This is like, okay, what do I really need to do to mitigate for this?

Caitlin McCabe (1:16)

At the start of this year, a risk report from the World Economic Forum found that the more than 900 experts it surveyed had grown increasingly pessimistic. Amid a multitude of extreme weather events, growing societal polarization and new technologies ramping up the spread of misinformation. But events lately have put global risks into sharper focus. Suspected Russian drones have recently been spotted flying over NATO countries. 5,000 miles away, Taiwanese leaders are preparing for what they see as the possibility of a Chinese invasion by 2027 Meanwhile, it wasn't too long ago that the lights went off in Spain and Portugal for a day during a massive blackout. And California is still recovering from devastating fires at the start of the year. So how do you manage this new, seemingly riskier world? The European Commission earlier this year advised residents in EU countries to build a stockpile of essential supplies that could last for at least 72 hours. And the Taiwanese government recently updated its Crisis Response Handbook, featuring a go-bag packing list for locals on the island. Preppers themselves say government guidelines are an important starting point, but they're also taking matters into their own hands. We'll chat with two preppers from both sides of the Atlantic after first exploring how governments and businesses are stepping up.

Just a few weeks ago, something rather unusual happened in Poland. More than a dozen Russian drones entered the European countries' airspace. Then, not long after, drones appeared in Denmark and then Germany. The incidents have prompted a rethinking among European countries and companies of how to defend against drones flying through their skies, but also how to prepare residents on the ground. Our Sandra Kilhoff recently headed to Denmark to get a sense of what's happening in the usually steady nation.

Sandra Kilhoff (3:23)

Now I've gone to Denmark because, one, I'm Danish and I like to visit my family, but also because I wanted to find out how Danes are feeling about recent drone incursions and what that means for prepping. I have friends and family that have all stocked their kitchen pantries or sheds with the recommended water, canned food and first aid kits. My mom even brought a wind up radio so she can get updates from the government in the event of a crisis. All of these essentials, including keeping a bunch of cash to hand, are part of the official recommendations the Danish government sent to everyone living in the country last year.

Torsten Schaak-Pillersen (3:59)

Danes should be able to take care of themselves for 72 hours in case of a crisis occurring.

Sandra Kilhoff (4:05)

That's the Danish Minister for Resilience and Preparedness, Torsten Schaak-Pillersen.

Torsten Schaak-Pillersen (4:10)

I think if you saw the TV pictures from Spain and Portugal when they had their power bag out just some months ago, you could see that they were running to the supermarkets and emptying them from water bottles. So prepping is a way to make our society more resilient. And it's a way to make sure that authorities, they can focus on the real problem when a crisis occur instead of bringing bottled water and toilet paper to the suburbs because people didn't take the personal responsibility of following the guidelines from the authorities.

Sandra Kilhoff (4:44)

At first, many Danes ignored these guidelines, but then came the drone incursions last month. All of a sudden canned mackerel was sold out across the country, and the delivery app, Volt, which is owned by DoorDash, saw a spike in demand for freeze-dried camping food. So we're at Wolt's headquarters here in Copenhagen about to have a conversation about prepping with you today. I met with a couple of Volt's general managers, Søren Svendsen and Mikkel Freisleben, to talk about prepping because the company last month created a category for prepping goods on their app. So you can get your water and canned food delivered to your door in just 30 minutes.