Survey finds Icelanders unprepared for water outages

Only 9.1% of Icelanders keep emergency water supplies for cooking and hygiene, a survey has found, according to mbl.is. The figure compares with 35.7% in Finland and 32.3% in Sweden.

Kristinn Árni Lár Hróbjartsson, co-founder and managing director of Varða, a think tank on national security, discussed the findings on the news programme Dagmál. “People were not worried that the water would be shut off,” he said. “But nobody had any water.”

A newly published civil protection booklet, Verum viðbúin, advises people to keep emergency supplies for three days, including water. Kristinn referred to Varða’s survey on public awareness of disasters and preparedness, published in April.

He said a water shortage could also make food supplies less useful, since dry foods such as noodles are difficult to prepare without water. He urged people to consider their own preparedness and plan for disruption to essential services during an emergency.