Important Takeaways:

• Netherlands residents really need to prepare themselves for a calamity. They must be able to survive on their own for 72 hours if war, a disaster, or a cyberattack paralyzes the country, Justice Minister David van Weel told the Telegraaf. The government has identified five key sectors that will get priority in this time of uncertainty, he said. These are logistics, electricity, water and food, healthcare, and the government.
• Until now, the government’s advice has been for Netherlands residents to have enough food and water in-house to survive 48 hours. “The commitment to civil resilience must increase,” Van Weel said to the newspaper after meeting with his EU colleagues in Brussels on Wednesday.
• Van Weel would like to see Dutch people get back to the preparedness levels of the Cold War. “Back then, we knew what to do when the air raid siren went off. Citizens simply had a task to perform in case of an emergency,” Van Weel said. “After the fall of the wall, we dismantled defense and at the same time, the entire civil defense system.”
• Netherlands residents are already taking matters into their own hands. 57 percent have an emergency kit at home or plan to get one soon, EenVandaag found in a survey of its panel members. 67 percent have little or no confidence that the government will step in and help in the event of a calamity. They doubt that this government gives sufficient priority to disaster management and wonder whether the government itself would be able to function under such circumstances. “This government is not very good at making decisions in the short term, I think most people will be left to their own devices,” one respondent said.
• The government has identified five key sectors to give extra protection and support: logistics, electricity, water and food, healthcare, and the government.
• The Dutch government will further elaborate on these five priority sectors and how to support and protect them before the summer.

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