Sweden’s Preparedness Week: A Time to Practice Crisis Readiness

Preparedness Week: A Time to Practice How to be Ready in Crisis or War.

Imagine this: The power goes out, the internet is down, and there’s no running water. You try to place a call, but the line is dead. Days pass. The temperature drops, the food in your fridge starts to spoil, and your credit card no longer works. What would you do?

Preparedness Week, led by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB – Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap), is an annual initiative designed to help you answer that very question. Taking place in Week 39 each year, the event brings together communities, local governments, organisations, and citizens to practice essential skills for managing crises or war. The 2024 theme emphasises taking proactive steps to ensure readiness for any situation.

This is more than just a week of theoretical discussions. MSB, in collaboration with municipalities, private companies, and non-profit organisations, encourages everyone to rehearse their responses to potential crises. Practice scenarios will help participants build individual and collective resilience, preparing them to navigate real-life challenges. Whether your preference is to practice with friends, family, or on your own, the activities planned for 2024 will test your ability to respond not only for yourself but for your community as well.

The Challenge: Living a Week in Crisis

Throughout the week, a series of fictional crisis scenarios will be presented, each representing potential challenges such as power outages, food shortages, or communication breakdowns. The goal is to practice steps you could take in the event of a real emergency. For each day of Preparedness Week, a different situation will be described, along with guidance on what to practice to be ready should it happen for real.

Preparedness is not just about knowing what to do for yourself; it’s about being ready to help others. We all play a vital role in Sweden’s overall preparedness strategy. The actions of individuals can have a profound impact on how well the country as a whole responds to a crisis.

A Nationwide Effort

During Preparedness Week, the entire nation comes together to build resilience. Many municipalities will take a leading role in organising activities, such as practising how to prepare meals without electricity or distributing local crisis guides. Local governments, defence organisations, companies, and non-profit groups will all join forces to be proactive in learning how to be prepared.

The greater the participation, the greater the preparedness. Municipalities will collaborate with voluntary defence organisations to host activities for residents, raising awareness and encouraging hands-on practice. By doing so, they aim to move us citizens from thinking about preparedness to actively practising it.

Practice Makes Perfect

Practising crisis preparedness isn’t just for authorities and organisations; it’s for individuals and households aswell. For the first time in 2024, Preparedness Week will focus also on getting households involved in practising basic skills, will be interesting to see and read the material that they are producing for this. Whether it’s learning to cook without electricity or understanding how to stay warm without power, these simple actions will raise awareness of what you can do to protect ourselves, family, friends, neighbours and lets not forget our pets in a crisis.

This effort follows a growing public interest in preparedness. In recent years, events like the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have made more people aware of the importance of being ready for emergencies. MSB surveys show that the number of households with enough supplies to last a week has risen from 26% in 2021 to 37% in 2022. While this progress is encouraging, more people need to take action. This year’s theme is all about turning that awareness into concrete steps, such as packing an emergency box and practising how to live without society’s support.

Building Resilient Communities

Preparedness is not just an isolated task for extreme situations; it should be part of a broader effort to create sustainable, resilient communities. As more municipalities, state authorities, and organisations participate in activities during Preparedness Week, the focus will be on fostering a culture of preparedness at every level of society.

MSB has created educational material called “Seven Days”, which outlines the challenges you might face during a week of crisis and offers guidance on how to manage without the support of society. By practising these scenarios now, we can all become better equipped to handle whatever the future may bring.

I will be sharing that material and our own insights during week 39.

If you want to enquire about prepping kits let me know, or visit our Prepping page.