Germany is developing an app to help people locate the nearest bunker in the event of attack. Sweden is distributing a 32-page pamphlet titled If Crisis or War Comes. Half a million Finns have already downloaded an emergency preparedness guide.<\/p>\n
If the prospect of a broader conflict in Europe seems remote for many, some countries at least are taking it seriously \u2013 and, in the term used by Germany\u2019s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, taking steps to get populations kriegst\u00fcchtig<\/a>: war-capable<\/a>.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has dramatically raised security tensions across the Baltic region, prompting Finland and Sweden to abandon decades of nonalignment<\/a> and join Nato. Military capability, however, is not all: citizens have to be braced too.<\/p>\n \u201cWe live in uncertain times. Armed conflicts are currently being waged in our corner of the world. Terrorism, cyber-attacks, and disinformation campaigns are being used to undermine and influence us,\u201d the Swedish pamphlet\u2019s prologue says.<\/p>\n Also available in English<\/a>, it adds that collective resilience is essential and if Sweden is attacked, \u201ceveryone must do their part to defend Sweden\u2019s independence \u2013 and our democracy \u2026 you are part of Sweden\u2019s overall emergency preparedness\u201d.<\/p>\n A page from the English language version of the Swedish government pamphlet on preparedness for war.<\/p>\n Swedes have long been familiar with such public information pamphlets: the first was issued in the second world war. The latest advises on, among other topics, warning systems, air raid shelters, digital security and how to use the toilet if there is no water.<\/p>\n It also recommends keeping a good supply of water at home (and checking annually to see if it is still safe); having plenty of blankets, warm clothes and alternative heating; getting a battery-powered radio; and storing plenty of energy-rich, quick-to-prepare food.<\/p>\n Reaction among Swedish residents has been mixed. Johnny Chamoun, 36, a hairdresser in Solna, near Stockholm, said it was \u201cgood to be prepared\u201d. But, he said, while the brochure was a good idea, it had not been much of a talking point.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the salon I\u2019ve not heard many people talk about it. Just one said they had got it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re not stressing or anything.\u201d But Muna Ayan, a healthcare worker from Stockholm, was concerned by how unconcerned many Swedes were.<\/p>\n Having experienced conflict firsthand in Somalia, Ayan said she was frightened. \u201cI am scared because I know what war means \u2013 I have survived war,\u201d she said, adding that she had stocked up on water, battery lights, candles and Vaseline.<\/p>\n She was also trying to work out how to tell her five children without scaring them. For people from Somalia, Syria or Iraq, talk of conflict in Sweden<\/a> was traumatic, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe who have been in war, we are not well. We are very worried, because if there is war we know what will happen. In war we have lost relatives, some children will disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n Norwegian soldiers taking part in the Nordic Response military exercise at Alta in March. Photograph: Heiko Junge\/NTB\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n And Fatuma Mohamed, a health communicator in Stockholm, said many families in poorer areas did not have food for everyday life, let alone for stockpiling, while others were trying to find out where their local shelters were.<\/p>\n She said she would like to see more information provided to people in person, rather than just in a brochure.<\/p>\n Norway\u2019s directorate for civil protection, DSB, has distributed a similar booklet<\/a> to the country\u2019s 2.6 million households. \u201cWe live in an increasingly turbulent world,\u201d it says, affected by climate change, digital threats and \u201cin the worst case, acts of war\u201d.<\/p>\n The Norwegian pamphlet advises people, for example, to hold at least a week\u2019s worth of non-perishable food including \u201ccrispbreads, canned pulses and beans, canned sandwich spreads, energy bars, dried fruit, chocolate, honey, biscuits and nuts\u201d.<\/p>\n Norway also advises residents to stock up on essential medicines \u2013 including iodine tablets, in case of a nuclear incident \u2013 and, like Sweden, recommends that people have several bank cards and keep a ready supply of cash at home.<\/p>\n In Finland, an exhaustive online guide called Preparing for incidents and crises<\/a> offers residents information and advice on anything from water outages to wildfires, the collapse of the internet or \u201clonger-term crises \u2026 such as military conflict\u201d.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to This is Europe<\/p>\n The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans \u2013 from identity to economics to the environment<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n More practically, on a separate website, 72tuntia.fi<\/a>, Finland \u2013 which shares an 830-mile (1,340km) border with Russia \u2013 asks its citizens bluntly: \u201cWould you survive 72 hours?\u201d in a range of crisis situations, inviting them to put both their skills and their supplies through a series of tests.<\/a><\/p>\n The site has tips on strengthening psychological resilience \u201cto increase your ability to cope in difficult circumstances\u201d, improving personal cybersecurity and sheltering indoors (\u201cSeal doors and windows. Turn on the radio. Wait calmly for instructions.\u201d)<\/p>\n Suvi Aksela of the women\u2019s national emergency preparedness association (Nasta), who is on the 72hours expert committee, said it had considered raising Finland\u2019s food storage recommendation to a full week of supplies, as Sweden and Norway had done.<\/p>\n But in the end, the committee decided against it because the 72hours messaging was so well-established in Finland, she said. \u201cThe 72 hours has become a brand here in Finland, so we didn\u2019t want to break that. But that is just the minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n Screengrab of the Finnish government pamphlet about readiness for war.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine had been a \u201cwake-up call\u201d even in a country that had long been prepared, she said: women had signed up for preparedness courses, battery radios had flown off the shelves, and questions like \u201chow much water do you have at home?\u201d or \u201cdo you have a camp stove?\u201d had become \u201cmore mainstream\u201d.<\/p>\n Germany\u2019s focus, meanwhile, is on ramping up the number of its bunkers and protective shelters after an official estimate that the nation of 84 million has fewer than 600 public shelters, together capable of holding just 480,000 people.<\/p>\n Many cold war shelters have been dismantled owing to the belief they would no longer be needed, but Berlin has now launched a national bunker plan under the Federal Office for Population Protection, including a geolocation phone app<\/a>.<\/p>\n Experts predict an attack by Russia may be a possibility within the next five years and the search is now on for any structure that could be used if such an event occurred, including metro stations and basements of public offices, schools and town halls.<\/p>\n German households have been urged to adapt their own cellars, garages or store rooms, or excavate old bunkers, while housebuilders will be legally obliged to include safe shelters in new homes \u2013 as Poland has already done.<\/p>\n