France To Distribute Survival Booklets To Its Population

From The Guardian: "France preparing ‘survival manual’ for every household, report says." The article relates:

    The French government is reportedly planning to send a “survival manual” to every household in the country with instructions on how to prepare for an “imminent threat” including armed conflict, a health crisis or a natural disaster.

    If approved by François Bayrou, the prime minister, the 20-page booklet will be sent to households before the summer, French media reported.

    It will be divided into three parts with advice on how to protect “yourself and those around you”, what to do if a threat is imminent – with a list of emergency numbers, radio channels and a reminder to close doors and windows if the threat is nuclear – and details of how to get involved in defending your community, including signing up for reserve units or firefighting groups. 

    It will also suggest putting together a “survival kit” consisting of at least six litres of water, a dozen tins of food, batteries and a torch, as well as basic medical supplies including paracetamol, compresses and saline solution, according to Europe 1 radio, which reported the story.

Six liters is only 1.6 gallons. The standard advice for those living in temperate climes who will just be sitting around for the government come save them is to set aside 1 gallon per person per day. So the French government is apparently only expecting a war to last a day and half? Perhaps if the canned food includes fruits packed in water or juice, this could be stretched out to two days. Or perhaps fresh water is more readily available in France than my experience living in a desert region would suggest.

    Of course, the Guardian, being a British paper, can't help but mock the whole idea of preparedness. In an op-ed entitled "How would I survive the apocalypse? By stocking up on the key item most preppers forget" by Emma Brockes, begins:

 It’s a fairly strong indication that your US presidency is not going well when, within three months of you taking office, one of your closest allies feels the need to issue its entire population with a manual on how to survive an “imminent threat”. According to French media reports, that is what the French government is planning in the form of a 20-page booklet to go out to its citizens this summer. And while it’s intended for use against natural disaster or medical threat, we all know what we’re really talking about here. The French government would like to remind its people that, in the event of a nuclear attack, they must remember to close the doors and windows.

Yup, the success of an American president is wholly measured by whether a European country published a civil defense booklet. So, because Sweden and Finland updated their civil defense brochures in 2024, as did Norway and Denmark, we can now safely conclude that Biden's presidency was a dumpster fire.

    So what advice does Brokes offer to the would be prepper, considering that her only experience seems to have been surviving a couple of blackouts in New York City? 

    First, in event of a nuclear attack, she suggests avoiding the reinforced concrete subway stations and tunnels, writing:

... I’ve seen enough apocalypse shows to know that hiding underground is not the answer; you have either to head north, to a national park where you can outrun the cannibals and hunt game, or barricade yourself in your apartment for three months until the initial anarchy has burned itself out and you can go on a scavenging run to the shops.

Wow, that's just brilliant! 

    Second, which might have some actual merit behind her sarcasm, is to stock up with some strong liquor:

    ... A lot of people in New York have generational trauma from relatives who did, indeed, flee Europe decades ago, and the ones I know would point out that missing from the French guidelines is alcohol.

    This isn’t a joke. The shrewd prepper understands that if things collapse and money becomes useless, the value of alcohol – for anaesthetic, sterilisation, sedation – rises to the very top of the new currency system. You can pack your tiny bottles of water and buy your tins, but my advice to you, if prepping, is to stop off at the off-licence and grab three bottles of premium whisky and a bottle of Tanqueray – which you are absolutely not allowed to touch until the bombs start falling.

It is not just alcohol that is good for trade. Cigarettes have often served as a de facto currency both in prisons and communist countries (although I repeat myself). Other luxury goods like perfume, silk stockings, and lingerie served as trade goods during the two world wars. And briefly researching this topic, I see that Ramen noodles have usurped cigarettes as the most valuable trade good in U.S. prisons.