French government expected to issue all citizens with survival manual

[TeeDee]

 

[British Red]

Really?? In that case I think you may speak of a failed state.
Even in Sweden, bureaucratic nation nr.1, overarching help is being mobilized within hours. There are playbooks, there is equipment and there are professionals and volunteer organozations.
It might not be adequate or all solving, but there are always bluelight services, snowplows, cleanup crews etc.
Some municipalies are better (or worse) organized and there is the ever present and pressing governmental desire to "cut costs", but still.

Of course. We have ever rising debt levels, the government are cutting benefits for the most vulnerable to pay rising interest on previous borrowing whilst taking on new, larger, spending commitments. As a society we need to learn to take care of ourselves. It's really no different than paying insurance premiums.

 

[demographic]

72 hours maybe a nonsense in terms of having 'a plan' of contingency vs reality of reaction from local agency's for many.

But it does beat zero contingency as an individual.


Maybe its a lot easier to get someone ( general population ) to start a basic baby step of contingency for a small amount of time rather than shock and scare people by telling them they 'need' Whatever figure feels more appropriate.

Baby steps.
Little Medicine
Eating the Elephant etc

Yeah, I agree with all of that.
Having a bit of an idea what to do, who to contact and how to do so.
Few bits and bats like the ability to cook without electricity from the grid.
Water being off for a couple of days.
I'm all for a bit if contingency, just find the whole "Everyones doomed but us at one minute past 72 hours" to be a bit overly dramatic.

I've lived in two houses that had a larder, a cool room with a stone slab and a north facing window covered by a mesh screen. Ventilated, dry (ish) and cool.
Great way to keep food that didnt require power.
Freezers are great but when the powers off you end up cooking a load of meat for cold cuts to make it last longer.
I also used to run a van on Biodiesel (legally produced and taxed) and there was something reassuring about having a 45 gallon barrel of fuel, no worries about my finances or fuel stations having pumps or tils powered up.

 

[TeeDee]

Yeah, I agree with all of that.
Having a bit of an idea what to do, who to contact and how to do so.
Few bits and bats like the ability to cook without electricity from the grid.
Water being off for a couple of days.
I'm all for a bit if contingency, just find the whole "Everyones doomed but us at one minute past 72 hours" to be a bit overly dramatic.

I've lived in two houses that had a larder, a cool room with a stone slab and a north facing window covered by a mesh screen. Ventilated, dry (ish) and cool.
Great way to keep food that didnt require power.
Freezers are great but when the powers off you end up cooking a load of meat for cold cuts to make it last longer.
I also used to run a van on Biodiesel (legally produced and taxed) and there was something reassuring about having a 45 gallon barrel of fuel, no worries about my finances or fuel stations having pumps or tils powered up.

I agree.

The thing with preppers sometimes it seems is we/they like to play a game of ' keep up with the jones' - and thats ok , its fine , its good to take pride in what you are doing and motivated to do.

But - as a Joe Blow walking down the street - hearing or seeing about what one ' really needs ' from a bunch of seasoned people that have been at it for a while and maybe are more into it than they really need to be ( subjective assessment ) can be somewhat scary? aweing ? intimidating?

There are clearly lines of basic resilience and for some of us that is extended into domestic self reliance and homesteading.
I guess the main point of what the government is trying to do is convince the unconvinced.
And thats a hard sale.

I do wonder if anyone here maybe reading this and without any interest in 'prepping' has formed any thoughts?

 

[Pattree]

I do wonder if anyone here maybe reading this and without any interest in 'prepping' has formed any thoughts?

It’s not something that I think about. We’ve managed an eight day power cut here. I think that most of us have some form of store. It’s called a cupboard. Ours contains enough to make our meals for a week - that is to say, the meals that we have decided on. There are supplies that go well beyond a week - typically a half full 5k bag of rice, a couple of kilo of pasta, 2 kilo of string flour and enough yeast, a couple of kilo of sugar. Oh and just now a kilo of cocoa by accident and two kilo of coffee beans as always. There are a few tins of stuff and there is stuff in the freezer. We would keep the freezer shut for the first few days of a power cut but then start eating our way through a couple of legs of lamb, a lump of pork and some fish.

We have no plans regarding water but there is a river just about within sack truck distance and I have a couple of 25l containers. I’m not sure we’d drink it until we had to - it flows through a lot of agriculture!

The big issue would be heat and hygiene. Without power there would be no shower and we don’t have a bath.
We do however have one remaining open hearth and chimney I suppose that I could set up the Kelly Kettle in that in seriously bad weather. Perhaps the Kettle would allow me to eek out a wood supply in a way that an open fire wouldn’t. If even this little village started to rely on local wood we’d be tree-less in under a year. If Telford started to use wood for warmth and cooking there wouldn’t be a tree in two months of a hard winter.

No I’m not preparing for the total breakdown of society or its infrastructure.

I AM prepared to contribute to the maintenance of society in an emergency to the extent of my abilities and reserves. Survival, if that is what it comes to, will never be a solo activity. Only community will see us through a prolonged loss of utilities or supplies.

 

[Crac]

I dug out the highlight from https://www.youtube.com/@France24_en and I've added a short summary.


19th March 2025
France plans 'survival manual' distribution to prepare households for emergencies • FRANCE 24 (00:53)

Nothing more than an announcement, the booklet is being finalised and should be available between now and the summer. Some speculation on what kinds of threat the book should cover (minor or major).

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20th March 2025
French survival guide: Preparing for war? • FRANCE 24 English (06:06)

Some mixed message about what the book is for? (Yes, all the major threats.)

3 sections
1. Looking after yourself and the 72h bag.
2. Communications and information sources. What are the emergency sirens/signals. Emergency broadcast text alerts.
3. Recruitment and solidarity. The French government is looking for volunteers to train.


Reference to other countries already having their booklets. Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Lithuania, and Poland. While Germany is working on their manual too.

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Bonus video!
This more ties between the story of the French survival manual (19th March 2025), and The EU Preparedness Union Strategy (26th March 2025). Enjoy.


Hadja Lahbib (Belgian politician) Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management posted a video.

26th March 2025
Il kit di sopravvivenza della commissaria Ue Hadja Lahbib (01:36)
(The survival kit of the EU Commissioner Hadja Lahbib)

The video is in English… serious message with light hearted humour.
A short video listing the 15-20 items that might be useful.

• Glasses.
• Documents in waterproof pouch
• Flashlight, matches and a lighter
• Bottle of water
• Swiss army knife… -It looks big “18 tools”
• Personal medication.
• Something to eat. (blue chocolate biscuit bar?, a cereal bar?, a short stubby can… big can of tuna?, second cereal bar?)
• Cash
• Charger and Power bank
• A deck of playing cards
• Radio

 

[Pattree]

This kit seems to presume that I’d be leaving my home.

 

[Tengu]

This kit seems to assume I know how to play card games.

 

[Pattree]

Noughts and crosses and I-spy can be hard going in your own!

 

[Pattree]

Even densely populated areas can manage a week or two without rubbish collection. More than that an it gets messy. Maybe in an emergency we wouldn’t throw away so much.

Sewage in the other hand might soon become difficult without a water supply. I have no idea what municipal planning exists for that.
I’ve lived in cities where only half the population have access to toilets and sewers and it’s not good.

Few of us have the space to bucket and chuck-it.

 

[Crac]

Even densely populated areas can manage a week or two without rubbish collection. More than that an it gets messy. Maybe in an emergency we wouldn’t throw away so much.

Sewage in the other hand might soon become difficult without a water supply. I have no idea what municipal planning exists for that.
I’ve lived in cities where only half the population have access to toilets and sewers and it’s not good.

Few of us have the space to bucket and chuck-it.

The guide from Finland covered this topic. As will "When All Hell Breaks Loose - Stuff You Need to Survive When Disaster Strikes" by Cody Lundin.

If water or electricity (or both!) are cut off, you might need to bag your waste. The health of the nation will depend on rubbish collection. This situation is more likely if you are talking hurricane and flooding scenario.

This kit seems to assume I know how to play card games.

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/87815/40-great-card-games-all-occasions
This is one of the better guides I've seen. Pair with "The Penguin Book of Card Games Everything you need to know to play over 250 games" by David Parlett.

 

[Woody girl]

I live on my own and hate playing cards or board games anyway. (Bored games in my language) but I love crafting and making things, so that would be my go to. Plenty of material, threads and wool, small weaving frame, minni peg loom, cross stitch kits (in the past, eyes too knackered now to do that now,) and spending time tending the garden. Foraging for food, wood and other things I could use in projects. Drawing and painting, plenty of books to read.
Far too busy for card and bored games!

 

[Tengu]

I never learnt to play as a child, always on my own.

To do art or crafts and read.

Oddly enough, even puzzles baffle me.

 

[ONE]

Only community will see us through a prolonged loss of utilities or supplies.

This. But it is very much contrary to credo of many, I'd say most, people who call themselves 'preppers'.

 

[Pattree]

We all have at least one self image, quite usually more. There exists a world for each of us in which we are the ubermensch, the super hero. I would never wish to damage someone else’s self image.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Oddly enough, even puzzles baffle me.

But do baffles puzzle you?

 

[Tengu]

<Thinks for a minute>

Yes

 

[TeeDee]

We all have at least one self image, quite usually more. There exists a world for each of us in which we are the ubermensch, the super hero. I would never wish to damage someone else’s self image.

Think that's a natural part of though life isn't it?

I get trying to not do it , but its part of the shaping like wind on rocks - it happens. And sometimes , required.

I do not try to get involved in belief structures however.

 

[Pattree]

Think that's a natural part of though life isn't it?

Yes indeed, we all judge each other and we all apply labels to each other - it’s impossible not to do so.
Folk reading this post are assessing the writing and the writer and shifting their stored impression of something called Pattree.

They are doing the same with all their perceptions all the time including their impression of “preparedness” and “preppers”.

I can get irritated or angry at assessments that differ significantly from mine but unless they affect me I shall try to leave the self image of others intact.

I do not try to get involved in belief structures however.

…. And there we differ

I spend a lot of time thinking about belief structures and the structure of belief. I believe that belief is the basis of “reality” but that’s another story for another day.

My impression is that the French Government’s pamphlet and the individual who stores a year’s supply of food, fuel and ammunition are both envisaging a future reality which is unpredictable as is the future society during and beyond the anticipated emergency. Even a power cut in a community which has never experienced one will change that community to some degree. How many toilet rolls do you stock compared with five years ago?

I have watched three Mad Max films. Our solo hero is totally dependent on post-apocalyptic communities, however dysfunctional those communities may be. I find him very sad.

The French Government is presupposing that it will be managing a future emergency. The solo prepper, if I may use that label, it’s presupposing that they will be self managing.
Neither case is certain but politics shall be a significant element in an eventual outcome and needs to be factored into preparedness..

 

[Stew]

We all have at least one self image, quite usually more. There exists a world for each of us in which we are the ubermensch, the super hero. I would never wish to damage someone else’s self image.

In a zombie apocalypse I assume that I’ll be one of the first to be eaten.