Inside the New Era of Emergency Readiness

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News

4 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 October 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Between the regularity of extreme weather events, the reality of total blackouts and the increasing threat of war, survival prep is becoming more popular. While individuals across the globe have been prepping for decades, now some governments are making sure their citizens are ready for when a crisis strikes. We speak to Denmark’s minister for resilience and preparedness as well as executives from delivery service Wolt, and explain why Taiwan is asking people to pack go-bags. Plus, preppers in the U.K. and U.S. explain why getting ready for disaster doesn’t have to mean going it alone. Caitlin McCabe hosts. Further Reading What’s in Your Go-Bag? How Taiwan Packs for Disaster Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:32.6	Hey, What's News listeners. It's Sunday, October 26th. I'm Caitlin McCabe for the Wall Street Journal,
0:38.8	and this is What's News Sunday. On the show this week, we take a look at prepping, the expanding
0:44.8	universe of survival prep. For decades, preppers were cast as people who were building bunkers
0:50.4	or stowing away resources for a looming apocalypse. But in a world filled with increasing
0:56.3	threats, governments and people are increasingly finding that being prepared is just plain prudent.
1:02.5	I can imagine people would want to adapt to that increasing uncertainty by trying to get
1:09.2	themselves more prepared.
1:11.6	If critical infrastructure were to fall out, whether it's manmade or it could be a natural disaster,
1:18.6	it is important that most of the people are able to take care of themselves.
1:23.6	This is new territory. This is like, okay, what do I really need to do to mitigate for this?
1:31.1	At the start of this year, a risk report from the World Economic Forum found that the more than
1:36.9	900 experts it surveyed had grown increasingly pessimistic amid a multitude of extreme weather
	...

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