Preparedness Is No Longer About Preparing for One Type of Crisis

Earthquakes in Colombia, volcanic activity in southern Italy, drought along the Danube and extreme heat across Europe all point to the same reality: the risks are different, but our dependence on essential systems is the same.

Over the past few days, very different events have once again brought preparedness into focus.

A major earthquake struck Colombia, followed by aftershocks and renewed attention to seismic risk.

Across the Atlantic, Mount Etna entered another significant eruptive phase, with volcanic ash affecting air traffic in Sicily.

Further north, exceptionally low water levels along parts of the Danube have created problems for navigation and energy production.

At the same time, large parts of Europe continue to experience periods of extreme heat, increasing pressure on health services, power grids, water supplies and urban infrastructure.

These events do not share a common cause.

An earthquake in Colombia is not connected to a European heatwave. Volcanic activity at Etna is driven by entirely different processes from drought along the Danube.

And that is precisely why they matter.

They remind us that preparedness is not about predicting what the next crisis will be.

It is about being reasonably prepared for a period in which our city, neighbourhood or essential infrastructure may no longer function the way we expect.

The real vulnerability lies in our dependencies

Most of us live inside an extraordinarily efficient network of systems.

We turn on a tap and water comes out.

We enter a station and expect a train to arrive.

We pay by tapping a phone.

We buy food that may have travelled hundreds or thousands of kilometres.

We use lifts to reach our homes.

We depend on electricity to communicate, refrigerate medicines, preserve food, charge vehicles and sometimes even gain access to buildings.

When everything works, we barely notice this infrastructure.

An emergency changes that relationship very quickly.

An earthquake can disrupt roads, buildings, electricity and telecommunications.

A volcanic eruption can close airports and alter transport routes without lava ever reaching a major city.

A drought can become an energy problem when there is not enough water available for hydropower or for cooling certain power plants.

A heatwave can simultaneously increase electricity demand, water consumption and pressure on healthcare systems.

The initial event may be different.

But the everyday vulnerability is often the same:

we depend on systems over which, individually, we have very little control.

Preparedness does not mean expecting catastrophe

This is where preparedness is often communicated badly.

Being prepared does not mean living as though something terrible will happen tomorrow.

It does not mean stockpiling for years.

It does not mean turning your home into a bunker.

And it does not mean reacting to every worrying headline.

Modern preparedness should look much more like good household organisation.

Know the risks where you live.

Have a family emergency plan.

Be able to manage for several days without urgent shopping.

Keep water, familiar food and essential medication available.

Be able to charge a phone during a power outage.

Keep a modest amount of cash.

Know an alternative way home.

Know where your family will meet if communications fail.

Keep important documents accessible.

Understand the official guidance for the risks relevant to your area.

These are small measures.

But each of them buys something extremely valuable during an emergency:

time to make better decisions.

The right preparation depends on where you live

Not every household needs to prepare in exactly the same way.

Someone living in Sicily near Etna needs to understand volcanic alerts, ashfall and possible transport disruption.

A family in an earthquake-prone area of Colombia needs to know the safest places inside the home, what to do during shaking, how to deal with utilities when necessary and how the family will reunite afterwards.

Someone living near the Danube may need to pay attention to drought, flooding, navigation restrictions, water availability or consequences for energy production.

A family in a large European city during a heatwave needs to know how to prevent the home from overheating, where to find cooler public spaces and what to do if extreme heat coincides with a power outage.

Preparing for everything is impossible.

Preparing for the reasonably foreseeable risks around us is not.

One of the first questions in preparedness should therefore be very simple:

What can realistically happen where I live?

Then comes a second question

What would stop working if it happened?

That question changes preparedness completely.

Do not think only about the earthquake.

Think about the lift that stops working.

The school you cannot reach.

The pharmacy that remains closed.

The bridge that is blocked.

The phone with no signal.

The supermarket that cannot receive deliveries.

The ATM that is offline.

The relative whose medication requires refrigeration.

The older person living alone on the eighth floor.

Citizen preparedness begins when we stop looking only at the hazard itself and start examining how its consequences could affect everyday life.

The first layer of preparedness should be almost universal

Although hazards differ, there is a basic level of preparedness that applies to many urban emergencies.

Every household should be able to answer questions such as:

Do we have enough water and food to avoid urgent shopping during a temporary disruption?

Do we have the essential medications we need?

Do we know how we will communicate if mobile networks become congested?

Do we have two family meeting points?

Do the children know what to do if we cannot collect them immediately?

Do we have another way to receive official information if internet access fails?

Can we keep our phones charged during a power outage?

Do we know how to get home from work if public transport stops?

Do we have accessible copies of important documents?

Do we know which neighbour or relative might need our help?

Specific modules can then be added for earthquakes, floods, fires, extreme heat, civil unrest or any other relevant hazard.

Preparedness stops being a collection of objects.

It becomes a system.

Cities also need to prepare

Responsibility cannot rest entirely on households.

Earthquakes, volcanic activity, drought and extreme heat also raise questions for local governments, businesses and operators of critical infrastructure.

What happens when several services fail at the same time?

Can a hospital continue operating?

Can a city keep distributing water?

Are alternative communication systems available?

Do schools have family reunification procedures?

Do care homes have backup power?

Can public transport adapt quickly?

Does the public know where to go?

Citizen preparedness and institutional resilience are not competing strategies.

They depend on each other.

A population with a basic level of preparedness reduces pressure on emergency services during the critical first hours.

Prepared institutions, in turn, allow communities to recover faster.

We do not need more fear. We need preparedness to become normal.

Perhaps that is the most important lesson from these events.

We are not watching “the end of the world.”

We are seeing a significant earthquake in a seismically active region, an active volcano behaving as active volcanoes sometimes do, a major European river under severe drought pressure and another period of extreme heat.

Different risks. Different causes.

But all of them raise the same question for people living in highly connected societies:

How much margin do we have when something stops working?

Preparedness cannot stop an earthquake.

It cannot stop a volcanic eruption.

It cannot make it rain over the Danube.

And by itself, it cannot end a heatwave.

What it can do is reduce our vulnerability to the consequences.

It can give us enough information to avoid an unnecessary journey.

Enough resources to remain at home for a while.

Enough power to maintain communication.

Enough planning to reunite a family.

Enough awareness to help a vulnerable neighbour.

Enough time to make a calm decision while others are beginning to improvise.

That should no longer be considered exceptional.

Preparedness is not about expecting a crisis. It is about recognising that disruptions happen and organising our lives so that, when they do, they affect us as little as possible.

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