UK households urged to stockpile batteries | UK | News | EUROtoday

Planning for emergencies is a bit like taking out insurance coverage – you realize you’ll want to however you additionally hope you’ll by no means want it. And the UK authorities has issued an inventory of recommendation to households throughout the nation advising everybody on precisely what they need to be doing to prepare for any attainable situation – together with stockpiling key necessities like batteries.

The authorities runs an internet site referred to as Prepare.gov.uk which goals to make sure as many households as attainable are prepared for emergencies equivalent to freak climate, energy cuts, main accidents or ‘infrastructure failure’ in addition to assaults. Among its listing of key recommendation, the federal government urges households to replenish on key objects together with batteries for radios, spare cell phone battery backs and battery energy for any medical gear.

The UK Prepare web site says: “Get prepared for emergencies. Emergencies happen every day in the UK and across the world. They can be caused by severe weather or other natural hazards, by deliberate actions, or as a result of accidents or infrastructure failure.

“They can be events that happen quickly and are over in a few hours, or they can develop and continue over the course of several days, months, or sometimes even longer.

“Consider what supplies you and your household might need during an emergency lasting a few days, such as a power cut or water outage, or situations where you are advised to stay at home or to leave your home (evacuate) for safety reasons.

“It can be helpful to keep these items in one place in your home and ideally somewhere easy to find if the lights aren’t working – if you are escaping your house due to a fire you should not take anything with you at all. You could consider keeping items you might need to take with you if asked to leave your home quickly in a spare bag – you might hear some people call this a ‘grab bag’.”

As well as urging people to prepare documents, check smoke alarms and talk to neighbours, the government urges households to stock up on batteries and key battery powered items.

It says: “Put together an emergency kit of items at home. This could include:

“Battery or wind-up torch – torches are safer than candles. Portable power bank for charging your mobile phone. Battery or wind-up radio to get updates during a power cut – a car radio can be used, however in severe weather it might be safer to stay inside.

“Spare batteries for torches and radio and a backup battery for any medical equipment you rely on.”

Otherwise, the federal government additionally says households ought to replenish on tinned meals, bottled water and child provides, if relevant.

It provides that you may construct up your stockpile over time: “Rather than buying all the items at once, you could just add to your emergency kit when you are able and build it up over time.”