Netherlands residents not well prepared for disaster: NCTV

Netherlands residents are woefully unprepared for when disaster strikes, according to the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security, who will launch a campaign to address this soon. Every Netherlands resident must be able to survive 48 hours if a cyber attack or disaster paralyzes the country, Coordinator Pieter Jaap Aalbersberg said to AD.

The Netherlands has way too little “shock resistance,” Aalbersberg said. And that while our society is more vulnerable than ever, with the Netherlands’ advanced digital infrastructure and the increasing cyberattacks.

The advanced state of the Netherlands’ digital technology is both a blessing and a curse. Because it has made life easier, but it also “created a lot of dependencies,” Aalbersberg said. “We tied everything together.” And there are largely no analog fallback options. The Netherlands is “extra vulnerable” to digital attacks because our resistance to cyberattacks has not kept pace with digital advancements. “The gap between threat and resistance is still too wide.”

Aalbersberg referred to then Minister Guusje ter Horst’s preparedness campaign in 2009. He, too, wants all Netherlands residents to have an emergency kit ready, with a battery-powered radio, tea lights, a first aid kit, and a pocket knife. “My generation still knows this emergency package of Minister Ter Horst,” Aalbersberg said. “That realization and preparation must return.”