Households urged to create 72-hour survival kit for emergencies

You’ve probably noticed that fears of World War Three are rising, but if you had to pack a survival bag right now, would you pack the right stuff?

Well, with the UK, US and more preparing for the worst, we’re here to give you a bit of a helping hand prepping for the impending chaos.

Is World War Three really on the way?

The threat of annihilation is nothing new, and our parents and grandparents also spent a lot of their formative decades worrying about when the bomb might drop.

However, with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin rattling sabres constantly as well as the war with Iran, Israel’s threats and beyond, the threat of total nuclear destruction has never been fresher in our minds.

Also, with social media at the fore, we’ve never been more connected to our own fears of existential dread.

Don’t get started on AI, either - if it isn’t coming for our jobs, it’s coming for our heads.

So, with recent government warnings that people should stock up on essentials amplified as UK defense secretary Wes Streeting urged people to ‘be ready’, we’re looking into what you need in your very own ‘bug out bag’.

First, to the words of Streeting himself.

UK defence secretary Wes Streeting issued the 'Be Ready' warning. Credit: Marcin Nowak/Anadolu via Getty Images

Appearing on BBC Newsnight, a nightly news and views programme, he said: "There’s no sugarcoating the fact that we do live in a more dangerous and turbulent world,

"It’s about saying to households across the country to be ready by just having some everyday essentials indoors should there be disruption from these sorts of events.”

Exactly what he means by ‘these sorts of events’ isn’t clear, but you don’t have to tax your imagination too hard.

What do you need to stock up on?

Streeting went on to advise that people stock up on canned food, daipers and baby essentials, supplies for any pets, as well as torches, batteries, chargers and ‘enough cash indoors if the local payment systems were down’.

The politician was at pains to say that this ‘Be Ready’ campaign isn’t just in the event of you-know-what, and it could pay off to be ready for natural disasters and extreme weather.

However, he did warn that preparing for the threat of war is at the forefront of this, writing in a separate article: “Our adversaries’ willingness to harm us is not new. What has changed is their capacity,

"By 2030, their force strength and war economy could put them in a position to attack.

"That gives us a little over 1,000 days to complete our mission: to be ready with our allies to fight and win. To prevent the worst, we have to prepare for it.”

Which countries are we threatened by?

According to the UK secretary, the threat isn’t limited to ‘Russian tanks rolling’ into Europe, but 'the growing threat of state-sponsored terrorism, sabotage and hostile acts designed to disrupt our lives, undermine our security and spread fear in our communities’.

The US faces a similar threat, and has enough enemies all around the world to mean that the threat is also very real.

Items such as these could help in the event of a disaster. Credit: Eduardo Parra/Europa Press via Getty Images

The ’72-hour survival kit’ you should think about creating

According to the government of the city of Calgary in Canada, you could include the following items in your three-day survival bag.

Of course, there’s no guarantee - and we have to all hope - that we’ll never need it, but when people in positions of power talk about these threats, you’re better off believing them than not preparing.

Bottled water, food, any medication you’ll need, a first aid kit, and battery packs are all must-haves.

Again, it suggests money is a good call, as well as documents and papers such as passports and ID.

You could also bring some entertainment - books, a pack of cards, board games, as well as non-electricity-dependent stuff like a wind-up torch.

Dust masks and tape would be a good idea, and it also recommends personal sanitation gear.

Store all of that in a in a 'waterproof, wheeled suitcase or container’ to be extra prepared - as if you can’t move it around, you can’t bring it with you.

Again, let’s all hope it doesn’t come to this - as we’re all in big trouble if it does, whether we prepared or not.