Sweden, Finland and Norway offer new advice on surviving war

On Monday, millions of Swedes will begin receiving copies of a pamphlet instructing citizens on how to prepare and respond in case of war or other unexpected crises.

“If crisis or war comes” was updated six years ago because of what the government in Stockholm calls a worsening security situation, meaning a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The booklet also doubles in size.

Neighboring Finland has also just posted its new advice online on “preparing for incidents and crises”.

And The Norwegians also recently received a pamphlet urged them to prepare to fend for themselves for a week in case of severe weather, war and other threats.

During the summer, Danish Emergency Management Agency said it emailed Danish adults detailed information about the water, food and medicine they needed to get through the crisis for three days.

In the detailed section on military conflicts, Finnish digital leaflet explained how the government and president would react in the event of an armed attack, stressing that Finnish authorities were “well prepared for self-defense.”

Sweden only joined NATO this year, deciding to apply like Finland after Moscow expanded the war in 2022. Norway is a founding member of the Western defense alliance.

Unlike Sweden and Norway, the government of Helsinki decided not to print a copy for every home because it “would cost millions” and the digital version could be updated more easily.

“We sent 2.2 million copies of paper, one to every household in Norway,” said Tore Kamjord, who is responsible for the self-preparedness campaign at the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB). .

On the list of items to keep at home are long-lasting foods such as cans of beans, energy bars and pasta, as well as medicines including iodine tablets in case of a nuclear accident.

Oslo submitted a previous version in 2018, but Kamjord said climate change and more extreme weather events such as floods and landslides had increased the risks.

For the Swedes, the idea of ​​a civil emergency booklet is nothing new. The first edition of “If War Comes” was produced during World War II and updated during the Cold War.

But there was a message posted in the middle of the booklet: “If Sweden is attacked by another country, we will never give up. All information about ending the resistance is false.”

Not long ago, Finland and Sweden were still neutral countries, even though their infrastructure and “total defense systems” dated back to the Cold War.

Swedish Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said last month that the global landscape had changed so information reaching Swedish households must also reflect those changes.

Earlier this year, he warned that “there could be war in Sweden”, although that was seen as a wake-up call as he felt that the moves were towards rebuilding “total defence”. is progressing too slowly.

Due to its long border with Russia and its experience with the Soviet Union during World War II, Finland has always maintained a high level of defense. However, Sweden has been shrinking its infrastructure and only in recent years has it started to pick up speed again.

“From a Finnish perspective, this is a bit strange,” said Ilmari Kaihko, an associate professor of war studies at the Swedish National Defense University. “[Finland] never forget that war is a possibility, whereas in Sweden it took people a bit of a shock to understand that this could actually happen,” said Kaihko, who is from Finland. speak.

Melissa Eve Ajosmaki, 24, originally from Finland but studying in Gothenburg, said she felt more worried when war broke out in Ukraine. “I feel less worried now, but I still have thoughts in my head about what I should do if there is a war. Especially since I have family in Finland.”

The guidelines include guidance on what to do in certain situations and ask people to ensure they can protect themselves, at least initially, in the event of a crisis.

Finns were asked how to cope without electricity for days on end with winter temperatures down to -20C.

Their checklist also includes iodine tablets, as well as easy-to-cook foods, pet food, and backup power sources.

The Swedish checklist recommends serving potatoes, cabbage, carrots and eggs along with a prepared tin of bolognese sauce and blueberry and rosehip soup.

Swedish economist Ingemar Gustafsson, 67, recalls receiving earlier versions of the pamphlet: “I wasn’t too worried about the whole thing so I took it quite calmly. It’s good that we have information about how we should act and how we should prepare, but it’s not like I have all those preparations at home.”

One of the most important recommendations is to keep enough food and water for 72 hours.

But Ilmari Kaihko wonders whether that’s realistic for everyone.

“Where do you keep it if you have a large family living in a small apartment?”