Hals prepares residents to withstand a week-long crisis

The village of Hals is working to prepare its roughly 2,500 residents to manage for seven days if a crisis disrupts essential services, DR reports. Organisers are urging people to stock up on water, canned food and other supplies, and are making plans for the community to support itself.

“Hals must be prepared for the worst-case scenario,” says Kit Sørensen, who leads the group behind the initiative. She says preparations should account for situations in which war or natural disasters bring the village to a standstill.

Since 2024, Danish authorities have advised people to keep enough water and canned food at home to last three days in an emergency. The Hals group wants the village to be able to cope for a week, a plan that requires preparations across the community.

Local shops are expected to sell emergency kits with long-lasting food, torches and other useful items. The school is being planned as a gathering place, with communal meals, camp beds and alternative heating. Organisers are also examining whether its basement could serve as a shelter if needed.

The initiative comes as Denmark’s Defence Intelligence Service and Security and Intelligence Service have recently raised their assessments of the threat from Russia, including the risk of sabotage and hybrid attacks against the defence industry and infrastructure. When the latest assessment was presented in September, Defence Minister Jeppe Bruus said the situation was more serious than at any point since the end of the Cold War.

A survey by Epinion for DR found that 12 per cent of respondents were already part of a local emergency preparedness group. Another 40 per cent said they would be likely to join such an initiative if the opportunity arose.

Rasmus Dahlberg, a lecturer in societal security at Roskilde University, praised the Hals project, saying local initiatives can help people get through crises. However, he said preparing for three days was sufficient. “It is more important to go from zero to three days than from three to seven,” he said.

Sørensen says there is still work to do. She recently organised a public meeting to explain the plans and recruit more volunteers. Resident Danielle Nuppenau said the meeting had prompted her to stock up on water and long-lasting food, while Birgit Sørensen said the initiative helped create a sense of security.