Map shows which European countries are preparing citizens for crisis

Governments across Europe are increasingly telling citizens to prepare at home for a major crisis like war, extreme weather and cybersecurity threats, with Ireland becoming the latest country to push emergency preparedness guidance directly into households.

Late in August, Ireland's government launched its new Be Emergency Ready campaign, with a preparedness booklet being distributed to households across the country from late September. The initiative is intended to give its citizens practical steps to take before major emergencies, such as keeping a supply of non-perishable food, fresh water, medicines and alternative ways to keep warm.

Ireland's advice follows a wave of similar preparedness campaigns elsewhere in Europe over the past two years. Across those campaigns, governments have told households to prepare for threats ranging from severe weather, flooding and prolonged power outages to cyberattacks, sabotage and disruption of essential services. In countries closer to Russia , which continues to wage its war in Ukraine for the fourth year running, citizens are also being told how to prepare for military conflict , evacuation and, in some cases, occupation and how to resist it.

Europe on the whole has been shoring up its preparedness as new safety threats emerge. The European Commission said when it unveiled its Preparedness Union Strategy in March 2025 that Europe faced growing geopolitical tensions and conflicts, cybersecurity and hybrid threats, foreign information manipulation and increasingly severe natural disasters owing to climate change .

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