The Global Story - Are governments preparing for the apocalypse?
Download Are governments preparing for the apocalypse?
Preppers have long been planning for the worst-case scenario. Are governments now doing the same?
The UK government has launched a national “Be Ready” campaign, urging people to keep enough food, water and medicine at home to prepare for three days of disruption. Other European countries have similar policies.
But for preppers, whose mission it is to ready themselves for a future disaster, this is old news. Have the preppers been vindicated? And what exactly are we prepping for?
(Photo: Prepper Drew Miller inside a well-stocked fortified bunker that is still under construction on 23 August, 2019, Lost City, West Virginia.Credit: Michael S. Williamson/ Getty Images)
Producer: Josephine Casserly and Xandra Ellin
Executive producer: Martine Powers
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Digital producer: Charlie Firth
Senior news editor: China Collins
Published on Thursday, 5th November 2026.
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