Think ahead: prepare for emergencies

In The Netherlands, it may seem that having a reliable electricity grid, clean drinking water and stable internet connection are common. Many people are hard at work to maintain that reliability. In emergency situations however, those services can fail without notice. The Dutch government is asking everyone to ensure they are prepared for emergency situations.

The Dutch government has sent an information booklet to all Dutch households, asking citizens to prepare for emergencies. Not small, local disruptions in electricity that can be repaired on short notice, but much larger and more impactful emergencies which could cause significant issues for multiple days. When for example the electricity grid is disrupted by sabotage or a cyber-attack, repairs could take days, and the effects to society are significant.

What you can do now

1. Purchase an emergency kit ("noodpakket")
   Carefully selected to provide for most emergency situations, and contains the essentials for the first 72 hours.
2. Make an emergency plan
   Depending on where you live, plan where you are going in case of an emergency, plan where you store a drinking water supply etc.
3. Talk to neighbours/family
   Inform them of your preparations, share experiences and your plan.

What to prepare for

So many services and systems in The Netherlands require a functioning electricity grid. By far the greatest disruptions are to be expected as the result of a large scale outage of the Dutch electricity grid. A timeline of a large scale emergency involving grid outage could look like this:

• Grid outage starts
  • No lighting, no cooling/heating/internet. Elevators stop.
  • No heating, even central heating that uses gas will stop working.
• +1 hour
  • Mobile phone network will work for up to 3 hours, but is likely going to be flooded soon.
  • Payment terminals will fail, some stores might close.
• 2+ hours
  
  • Some stores might have sold out, some might be closing because refrigerators are failing.
  • Gas stations closing.
  • Emergency phone numbers like 112 may not be reachable.
  • PIN payments (electronic payments in stores) no longer possible.
• +3 hours
  • Traffic lights are not working, causing serious traffic disruptions.
  • Trains not running, buses unable to keep up.
• +6 hours
  • Mobile phone network likely down, no mobile internet.
  • Food in refrigerators and freezers starts to go bad.
• +8 hours
  • Super markets are likely running out of supplies.
• +24 hours
  • Drinking water pumping stations run out of power, no tap water or reduced pressure.
  • Tunnel fans stop working leading to road closures.
• +36 hours
  • Power banks and battery-operated devices are running out of ‘juice’.
  • Communication disruptions continue.
• +48 hours
  • Heat and light have to come from candles or fires.
  • No fuel available, reserves are prioritized for emergency use only.
• +72 hours
  • Emergency radio broadcasts will provide details on where to reach nearby emergency centers for food and water.