Where did the rush to stockpile emergency food and water come from?

Lately, the tendency to save or stockpile things for emergencies has grown somewhat. But this time, the stockpilers are of a completely different kind. They are not acting out of belief in some strange or secret theory; they are acting after warnings from governments and the news media.

Everyone has been urged to be ready for any situation. And there is no similarity with those who suddenly bought up everything during Covid — because these people know very well exactly why they are collecting these things.

In the United Kingdom, the government recently advised people to be prepared. The main aim of the campaign is for every household to keep at least three days of emergency supplies at home. After the government's call, a natural question has arisen across the country: why this preparation all of a sudden?

Not only the United Kingdom — Germany, Norway, Japan and the United States have issued similar warnings. So the question is: exactly what should we buy? Why are we suddenly buying these things? And is this whole thing really new?

There is no single reason behind this new anxiety. But the trouble is that a long list of possible dangers has now piled up in front of us, one after another.

Many artificial intelligence (AI) experts have warned for years that this new technology could become a major threat to people. Even those who built the technology may not have thought this far ahead.

A recent report from the United Kingdom's National Cyber Security Centre said that by 2028, harmful viruses made with AI could strike the emergency systems of various countries.

The problem is not only that AI will attack in new ways; it can find weaknesses in cyber security so quickly and on such a large scale as never seen before. Recently, something like that happened in internet technology. AI found some serious flaws that had escaped human eyes for more than a decade, and many important websites went down. Experts say this is only the beginning.

Now, wherever you put your hand on the world map, you will find war or conflict going on in some region. War may be a very old thing, but the biggest difference between earlier wars and now is nuclear weapons.

Author Annie Jacobsen, in her book "Nuclear War: A Scenario", has described how terrible the situation could become if a country were suddenly hit by a nuclear attack. Once such an attack begins, it would set off one reaction after another. Nuclear missiles would come out of submarines one after another. The world would be covered in thick black darkness and intense cold — what is called a "nuclear winter". In that situation, the small amount of food stored at home would be of no use at all.

The situation is truly frightening. But we do not need to assume that this destruction is inevitable. Jacobsen believes that "instead of fear, we need to be aware. If we know the right information, we as citizens of the world will be able to make the right decisions." In an interview, Jacobsen said the real danger lies in the lack of information. When people know how dangerous these nuclear systems are, and realise that a major technical error can happen at any moment, then people will become aware.

We are now going through a climate situation that scientists call a "super El Nino". It is a natural event in which sea temperatures in some parts of the Pacific Ocean rise abnormally. Its effects fall on the weather of the whole world. As a result, one end of the world sees severe drought, while the other end sees heavy rain and floods. Scientists fear this El Nino could be more terrible than any in the past.

Too much water on one side of the world and severe water shortage on the other — this situation is putting our food security at great risk. At the same time, there is a growing fear of repeated extreme and abnormal weather across the world.

Added to this are conflicts and wars in many countries, which have made buying and selling and the supply of goods over the internet even more complicated. Taken together, cyber security, a country's own security and the security of people's food are now deeply linked to one another.

The present situation of the world may seem quite frightening to many. A big reason is that we now learn about bad news or disasters from any corner of the world very quickly. So it feels as if we are standing before endless danger. With warnings about these dangers increasing in the media, it may seem that the problem has reached its peak. But in truth, these warnings are not new.