I miss the Cold War. Back in the 1980’s everything seemed simpler. The main thing we worried about was nuclear annihilation. Nowadays it seems to be; everything, everywhere, all of the time. It can feel like perpetual anxiety – if you let it.

One feature of Cold War angst was emergency planning and preparation exercises. I used to love going to these and learnt a lot about preparing for the unexpected.

Fighting over a virtual digger. A favourite memory of these exercises happened during the scenario of a crude oil super-tanker sinking off the Welsh Coast.

It was so dramatic that specialist facilitators came all the way down from London, to the nuclear bunker we used in West Wales.

To be fair, the exercise was a disaster. It came to an abrupt end when highway engineers from two neighbouring Rural District Councils almost started fighting over rights to an imaginary JCB digger.

The specialist facilitators soberly asked us to come back in two weeks for a lessons learnt session.

A post-it note blamestorm. The session was ‘facilitation innovation technology’ back then; bog-standard stuff now.

• “Everyone write on post-it notes things that went well during the exercise and things that could have been better”.
• “Remember, one point per post-it.”
• “Now put your post-its on the big sheet of paper”.
• “Positives in the left hand side, and negatives on the right”
• “Then stand back and see what it tells us…”

The results we astonishing. The ‘negative’ side was like a forest of post-its. A proper ‘blamestorm’.

The ‘positive’ side had a few post-it notes, but they all mentioned the same thing – The WRVS. The Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (now The Royal Voluntary Service).

WRVS to the rescue. During the exercise the WRVS had done their usual stuff. Keeping people fed and watered and anything else that helped the day run smoothy. They went almost unnoticed until the question, “during the (disaster of an) exercise, what went well?”

Afterwards I had a conversation with the ‘specialist facilitator down from London’. I asked about the positive view of the WRVS.

The facilitator said they weren’t surprised, and positive views of the WRVS were common in these exercises. They went on to tell me the story of a real emergency. Here the WRVS had managed to divert a Bakery Delivery Truck off the M5 Motorway, to feed hungry emergency workers. Their point was that the WRVS had powers that transcended normal working arrangements.

This was in the days before mobile phones, and the story might have been exaggerated, but I’m happy to believe it.

During our exercise the WRVS might have been ‘ancillary’ to the main event. However, they were hugely important.

One other thing that the facilitator said was not to worry that the exercise had been a disaster. The important thing was that we would learn from the mistakes and in their words, “it’s all about preparing…”.

What’s the opposite of ‘prepared’? The obvious answer is ‘unprepared’. Which happens to be the title of a pamphlet from New Weather Institute a cooperative think tank. New Weather Institute look at ways to accelerate a rapid move to a fairer economy in the face of everything that’s happening around us.

‘Unprepared – why disaster planning needs to go local’ is well worth reading . It plays to my interest in the need to prepare, but also the idea that this needs to be local.

Just like the WRVS knew how to get things done communities and local groups are very often best placed to respond quickly in an emergency. Many of us will have seen that during Covid. Local community networks were often active before statutory agencies had got their boots on. Do have a look at ‘Unprepared’ for some examples of what this means.

To whet your appetite, here are three questions from Unprepared, that should get anyone thinking.

1. In a disaster how would (your) communities co-ordinate to protect the vulnerable and keep essential services and basic needs met?
2. If we were choosing systems that were most resilient to shocks, how would our energy, food, housing, care and transport systems be different?
3. How would these systems be owned and managed?

Plans are useless… The title quote of this post is attributed to US President Eisenhower. It’s provenance is discussed in this Quote Investigator article. I hope I’ve stuck with the meaning.

So, What’s the PONT?

1. Preparing really is essential. Look on it as an opportunity to test, fail, learn and get better.
2. Emergency Planning exercises are an effective way to prepare for the unexpected and build resilience.
3. Involving a wide group of people and local organisations helps. Diversity of thinking, networks and experiences can be invaluable. You never know you might get a Bakery Delivery Truck, just when you need it.