Around the world, governments are calling on their citizens to be prepared for turbulent times. In the United Kingdom, a new campaign asks households to “take a few simple steps to stay prepared if everyday services are temporarily disrupted” – in line with other European countries like France, Ireland and the Netherlands.

The leading concerns mentioned by the UK’s Be Ready campaign are severe weather and cyber attacks. The UK defence secretary added that the nation should prepare for the threat of “state-sponsored terrorism” by Russia or other hostile powers targeting everyday infrastructure.

Governments have long encouraged residents to retain enough supplies to survive a significant disruption. Australia, of course, is no different. Our official preparedness advice targets natural disasters: fires, floods and other forms of extreme weather.

As climate risks accelerate and a hot summer approaches, many ordinary Australians are actively preparing disaster kits and emergency plans. Prepping is a sensitive word, associated with sovereign citizens and conspiracy theorists – but is it becoming mainstream … and even sensible?

We’ve interviewed parents and carers in parts of Australia that have experienced severe climate disasters. Several, unprompted, raised the desire to start prepping and learn more about it. They were motivated by having evacuated their homes in potentially fatal situations. As one told us:

I never thought I’d ever be like a doomsday prepper, but it’s in the back of my mind. I’m almost going to start, like, collecting food and stuff because I’m so paranoid about what’s going to happen.

I never thought I’d ever be like a doomsday prepper, but it’s in the back of my mind. I’m almost going to start, like, collecting food and stuff because I’m so paranoid about........

© The Conversation