Have you heard about the emergency brochures Scandinavian governments hand out at the moment? What's your opinion on those?

Posted by Still_Tailor_9993@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 45 comments

Hej, have you heard about the emergency brochures Scandinavian governments hand out at the moment?

Here is an English version:

https://rib.msb.se/filer/pdf/30874.pdf (sweden, in english)

https://www.sikkerhverdag.no/globalassets/din-beredskap/brosjyrer-alle-sprak/dsb-egenberedskap-engelsk-web.pdf (Norway, english)

What's your opinion on those? Does your government hand out these kinds of brochures?

Sorry for my bad english.

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Syonoq@reddit

“If attacked we will never surrender”

I like it.

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Norwegian here. Not only are the civillian population told that, every military officer or NCO has a copy of a legal declaration that basically boils down to ‘resist any attack with any means’ and ‘consider all orders to surrender falsified’. Once Norway is attacked, not even the legitimate government can stop the military from defending the country

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Nde_japu@reddit

Nothing good comes with surrendering to Russians.

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Syonoq@reddit

I posted that before I saw that ICBMs (and the video) used in wartime for the first time in our existence. The sentiment still holds, but, fuck, scary stuff.

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Nde_japu@reddit

I was thinking more of the ground invasion. In regard to the Russians, you fight to the last person. You're going to likely get killed anyway, and whatever comes before that is worse than dying defending.

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fargenable@reddit

Castrated if you’re a man, raped repeatedly if you’re a woman. Best to take some slugs out in the process.

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Nde_japu@reddit

exactly

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HawocX@reddit

This is a pretty well known principle here in Sweden, dating back to at least the first version of this pamphlet in 1943. That one was named just "About the war", for obvious reasons.

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GreyNeighbor@reddit

These also circulated a couple of years ago on here as well, FYI

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STEMpsych@reddit

I think they're gorgeous and I am full of bitter American envy.

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johnnyringo1985@reddit

Yeah, ready.gov is great and all…….. but..

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STEMpsych@reddit

Estonia? No, do tell!

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johnnyringo1985@reddit

It was posted two weeks ago. Here’s a link to the post about it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/s/MQpdWfl5qd

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Mysterious_Touch_454@reddit

I live in finland, we actually didnt receive paper version, but have it online to print if we want to.

My opinion is that it is good thing, waking up some people who would not care otherwise. Personally i think everyone should prepare for emergencies.

We dont expect any attack from russia, but russia is living its last breaths and can collapse and that could cause all kinds of emergencies, like refugees or russia lashing out last time against everyone.

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Still_Tailor_9993@reddit (OP)

I'm from northern Norway and we get them in paper per national mail service.

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Mysterious_Touch_454@reddit

I wish finns would too. i dont have printer.

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Significant_Stoic@reddit

The brochures are nothing new, the new development is that more people are perhaps taking the advice seriously now.

In Norway the brochures are handed during "self preparation week", which is in week 44 every year. The media will publish content on how to prepare. They also publish profile articles on people who have prepped for every contingency, people who believe that prepping is the responsibility of the government and people who claim it is too expensive / takes up too much space.

Despite the emergency brochures being a feature of life in Norway for many years, the impact is probably more nuanced and "aspirational' There were waves of panic buying water containers and camping burners in Corona, then iodine pills when the war in Ukraine broke out.

There are of course Norwegians who are prepared because they live in places where a weather event could have serious consequences on water, power and supply chain, but in larger cities, the effect seems to be more mitigated unfortunately.

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Still_Tailor_9993@reddit (OP)

Yes but this year they had a bigger campaign. At least here in Finmark.

Here, a lot of people have some food and water in case the weather gets really bad. And I would guess that's usual for a lot of Norwegians who don't live in cities.

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SnooLobsters1308@reddit

I have not seen the US government distribute anything like this. FEMA (federal disaster agency) has WEBSITE guides to preparing for disasters, hurricanes, what to have in a bugout bag, etc..

I'm not sure the US government still has printers ... (joking, just, I've NEVER gotten something from them). And I've not seen any "war" prep, just "disaster prep".

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SunLillyFairy@reddit

They seem well thought and appear to be produced for general/broad distribution - you can see they are trying to be thorough while remaining easy enough to understand for anyone.

The US tends to provide information developed more locally. There are federal sites and information, but states and counties tend to have more localized disaster prep campaigns. Where I am they focus on general preparedness but add earthquake and wildfire prep, as that's the higher risk for the region.

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HawocX@reddit

Every household in Sweden has revived it by mail. It is comparable to an initiatiative a US state would oversee. (Sweden is about the size and population of Minnesota and Wisconsin combined.)

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Ymareth@reddit

We have some local brochures as well which vary wildly in quality. The neighbouring city had a very well made informative brochure. My own city is like: something happens, the rescue services will do something.

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VilleKivinen@reddit

These are normal protocol and have been going on for hundred years. Nordic Countries, especially Finland, have embraced Total Defence doctrine for all of our history.

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Nde_japu@reddit

Is it true there are shelters underground? How does it work for those of us well outside of city centers?

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HawocX@reddit

In Sweden there are laws ensuring that enough shelters are built in the cellar or (most common today) the ground floor of building complexes. The building where I live got one on the ground floor. It is divided into storage cells for the residents, but it is mandated that it can be restored to the original floor plan in 48 hours. The heavy metal doors to these shelters are something everyone is used to.

The further out into the countryside you get, the longer it will take to get to one of these government mandated shelters. This is deemed OK as high population areas are more likely targets.

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VilleKivinen@reddit

Yes. Rural areas might not have either bomb shelters nor fallout shelters nearby, but the vast majority of the population lives somewhere near the shelters that are in/under schools, swimming halls, shops, apartments, churches etc.

Most of the shelters are in other use during peace time, they have tennis courts, parking, shooting ranges, squash courts and storage spaces that can be cleared out in 48 hours.

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BurntGhostyToasty@reddit

Have they always handed out brochures tho, or was this information usually shared in another way?

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LivingRefrigerator72@reddit

Might be news now, but they have been handed out for so long (more than 15 years that I know off, haven’t been in contact with Sweden before that).

Every few years we have a campaign about it, usually before winter as we need to be able to get by without power or water as it can suddenly happen that due to a storm you have neither for a week.

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HawocX@reddit

The first version "About the war" was distrubuted in 1943.

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DeFiClark@reddit

According to international reports the Swedish manual was just updated (from a 2018 edition) and contains additional information from the prior edition including evacuation, what to do about pets etc

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LivingRefrigerator72@reddit

Yes it gets updated periodically (as it should).

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Ymareth@reddit

I got mine (Swedish) today. Woohoo! :)

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LastEntertainment684@reddit

When I lived near a nuclear power plant in the US we would receive a once-a-year pamphlet about what to do if the plant ever experienced a nuclear emergency.

We also have Ready.gov which is the government’s general emergency preparedness website. The core of it, is basically explaining to people they should have some spare food, water, and a portable radio in the event of any emergency.

As far as anything directly related to war, we haven’t had anything in my area since the duck-and-cover drills of the 1980’s. We’ve been much more focused on terrorism (the “see something - say something” campaign).

Granted the US is in a unique position of relative geographical isolation and immense size, that any sort of ground mobilization would likely come with great difficulty and a significantly advanced warning. The main exceptions being potentially Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam (which all have significant military presence). Much of Europe doesn’t have such a luxury.

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aWittyTwit-2712@reddit

They had foreknowledge of the ICBM event...

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8Deer-JaguarClaw@reddit

I think it's a great idea. It would have worked in the past in the US, but I feel like right now it would be written off as "lizard people propaganda" by half the citizens.

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Nde_japu@reddit

A more accurate assessment would be that at least half the country thinks the elites will save themselves at the expense of everyone else.

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hunta666@reddit

Honestly, I don't understand why everyone doesn't have this and why many governments don't care about their population in the event of a nuclear incident.

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flipyflop9@reddit

A great brochure, and I’m sad my country doesn’t have one. There’s great info in there.

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ResolutionMaterial81@reddit

I think it is timely & prudent..considering what we are facing.

We in the US, on the other hand, are burying our heads in craziness of MAD.

(except for the political elite....with their deluxe taxpayer funded shelters for "Continuity of Government")

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Finna_Otter_91@reddit

I like these. They are really well made and practical.

Also, your english is fantastic!

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HiltoRagni@reddit

I randomly got one of these a few years ago in Czechia (2016 or so). It's nothing out of the ordinary really, most governments have these, some distribute them as a physical brochure, either yearly or when it's updated, others have it only online (i.e. ready.gov). Usually pretty good but fairly basic info.

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STEMpsych@reddit

It seems to me there is a world of difference in a state telling their citizenry that preparedness is a responsibility the state expects of them and a part of their duty as citizens (and expression of civic/national pride), and ready.gov's tack of helpful suggestions, if you want them, and feel like it. One is a request, the other is a suggestion.

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