The UK government has launched a three-year campaign urging households to prepare for emergencies by keeping essential supplies at home. The ‘Be Ready’ initiative advises people to maintain enough food, water and other necessities to manage for at least three days if essential services are disrupted.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced the campaign at a wildfire and resilience summit in Liverpool on Friday. The guidance covers risks ranging from extreme weather and wildfires to cyberattacks, terrorist threats and disruptions to supply chains.

"We're having the conversation with people about being better prepared because we're living in a world where unexpected events seem to be becoming more and more common," Burnham said.

He added, "It is just having those supplies in the house to get you through those moments. So, we are having that conversation about resilience."

The guidance, published on Thursday, recommends storing drinking water, non-perishable food, a battery-powered or wind-up FM radio, cash, a torch, spare batteries, blankets and sleeping bags. These supplies could help people manage power cuts, payment failures and interruptions to shops and other services. France, Ireland and the Netherlands have issued similar preparedness advice.

The campaign comes amid growing concerns over wildfires, extreme weather and cyber threats. The UK has faced droughts, extreme heat and wildfires in recent summers, with scientists linking rising risks of extreme heat and fires to human-driven climate change.

In August, a fire in Stourbridge, central England, destroyed 19 homes and damaged another 18. During a visit, Burnham called for Britain to address climate change and speed up its transition to clean energy.

Cyberattacks have also highlighted the risks to essential services. This month, a cyberattack affected major French supermarket chains, after an increase in refrigeration temperatures in hundreds of stores forced them to discard food worth millions of Euros. Separately, governments and companies worldwide shut down websites this week after AI uncovered critical vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language used by about 70% of the world's websites.

Alongside the campaign, the government announced measures to strengthen its wildfire response. Military helicopters and aircraft will receive equipment to help fight fires. English firefighting services will also get additional specialist wildfire teams and lightweight protective equipment.

The government has allocated up to £45 million, or around $60 million, to tackle the growing wildfire threat.

Defence Minister Wes Streeting told the BBC on Thursday that the campaign aims to encourage preparation without causing panic. The government wants "people to be alert but not alarmed", he said.

Streeting also urged households and businesses to consider how they would cope if hostile state actors or terrorists disrupted supply chains. "How would we cope if the payment systems at the local supermarket went down?" he asked.