Justice Minister urges Dutch to prepare for war as gov't identifies priority sectors
Netherlands residents really need to prepare themselves for a calamity. They must be able to survive on their own for 72 hours if war, a disaster, or a cyber attack paralyzes the country, Justice Minister David van Weel told the Telegraaf. The government has identified five key sectors that will get priority in this time of uncertainty, he said. These are logistics, electricity, water and food, healthcare, and the government.
Until now, the government’s advice has been for Netherlands residents to have enough food and water in-house to survive 48 hours. “The commitment to civil resilience must increase,” Van Weel said to the newspaper after meeting with his EU colleagues in Brussels on Wednesday.
Van Weel would like to see Dutch people get back to the preparedness levels of the Cold War. “Back then, we knew what to do when the air raid siren went off. Citizens simply had a task to perform in case of an emergency,” Van Weel said. “After the fall of the wall, we dismantled defense and at the same time, the entire civil defense system.”
Netherlands residents are already taking matters into their own hands. 57 percent have an emergency kit at home or plan to get one soon, EenVandaag found in a survey of its panel members. 67 percent have little or no confidence that the government will step in and help in the event of a calamity. They doubt that this government gives sufficient priority to disaster management and wonder whether the government itself would be able to function under such circumstances. “This government is not very good at making decisions in the short term, I think most people will be left to their own devices,” one respondent said.
According to Van Weel, the government is working on disaster management. The government has identified five key sectors to give extra protection and support: logistics, electricity, water and food, healthcare, and the government.
“When I think of logistics, I naturally think of the port of Rotterdam. In the event of a conflict in Europe, it will play a major role,” Van Weel explained. “If it comes to a standstill, then we will have a military disaster with the supply of troops and goods. And we have a problem with fuel because a lot of it goes via or along the port of Rotterdam.”
Water installations need better protection, and a solution must be found for when logistics for animal feed come to a standstill and Dutch farmers can no longer feed their livestock and provide that food. For healthcare, the government is making sure the Netherlands has sufficient supplies of medicine, among other things.
The electricity network’s problem is that it is too efficient, Van Weel said. “With fairly targeted attacks, a very large part of our power network can be shut down. That is different from Ukraine, substations prevent you from swithching off the entire network. We also have to build that in.”
As far as the government is concerned, it must have its continuity in place and ensure that it can communicate with citizens if the worst happens. “A lot has to happen locally in the first instance. We are going to ask mayors to think carefully about that. Perhaps there should be support points where people can go? How do we provide help for the weakest? Do we have emergency power for charging phones?”
The Dutch government will further elaborate on these five priority sectors and how to support and protect them before the summer.
