Germany to urge citizens stockpile for disaster

For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the German government plans to encourage its citizens to prepare for a catastrophe or an armed attack by stockpiling food, water and other supplies, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung" reported on Sunday.

Citing the government's "Concept for Civil Defense" paper to be discussed by the cabinet on Wednesday, the government will require people to stock 10 days' worth of food and five days' worth of drinking water.

The civil defense strategy would require citizens to have a sufficient supply of food, water, energy, money and medicine to wait out a period until the state would be able to initiate a response to a catastrophe or attack.

A spokesperson from the interior ministry declined to comment on the contents of the paper until a Wednesday press conference.

The 69-page report said an armed attack on Germany was unlikely. However, as a precaution people should "prepare appropriately for a development that could threaten our existence and cannot be categorically ruled out in the future," FAS quoted the report as saying.

The civil defense strategy was originally commissioned by a parliamentary committee in 2012, but its release comes amid a raft of new security measures in the country.

cw/rc (AFP, dpa, Reuters)