Stock up on food and water to survive some days without electricity or running water. This is the appeal that the British government’s Environment Minister, Angela Eagle, made in an interview with the Guardian, warning citizens to prepare for extreme weather conditions.
The largest El Niño ever seen is expected
El Niño is in fact destined to become “very intense” in the coming monthsas the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations climate agency, warned. According to forecasts, the largest El Niño of the last thousand years is expected, which will bring fires and floods in different parts of the world. “We’re going to face probably the biggest El Niño we’ve ever seen and that’s going to lead to drier summers, wetter winters and more extreme storms in this country,” Eagle said. It’s also going to cause a lot more damage in Asia due to flooding, so, I think we need to take this seriously,” he added. “If you have a supply of food that allows you to survive for a while before emergency services can reach you, you will be in a much better situation than those without. So, we need to prepare ourselves to be a little more resilient,” he stressed.
The government strategy
Meanwhile, the BBC reports that the National Audit Office (NAO), the independent body in the United Kingdom responsible for monitoring public spending, warns that Britain’s food supply chain is at risk due to the growing threat of cyber attacks and the climate crisis. The government over-relies on the private sector to deal with food supply disruptions, the NAO pointed out. The government should submit a national emergency preparedness strategy by the end of the year.