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Britain Has Become Brittle Society, Says Think Tank
Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor
April 18, 2009
It also calls on local authorities to use online networks like Twitter and Facebook to communicate with and advise members of the public during crises.
Demanding lifestyles are now reliant on an "outmoded and archaic" infrastructure that is vulnerable to any kind of shock, whether severe weather conditions, flooding, or international conflict, a Demos report will say.
The study, Resilient Nation, calls on individuals to become more self resilient and prepared for disasters or emergencies and less reliant on the state although it stops short of advising the public "stockpile" reserves.
It highlights the chaos caused by recent attacks on the country's infrastructure such as the extensive flooding in 2007 and the heavy snowfall earlier this year, which paralysed London's transport system.
Author Charlie Edwards, senior researcher at Demos, says: "We live in a brittle society rather than a broken one.
"Our complex modern social systems, our reliance on them and our inability to protect them are a growing concern for us all."
He adds: "A single failure in a network can cascade across systems causing all manner of systems to fail."
The report says over 80 per cent of Britons live in urban areas relying on "dense networks" of public and private sector organisations to provide them with food, water, electricity, communications and transport.
But it warns: "For much of the time this lifestyle poses us few challenges but it relies on an infrastructure that is outmoded and archaic, and which increasingly lacks the capacity to support our complicated lives."
Around 85 per cent of the UK's critical infrastructure is in private hands, it adds, and the country will become increasingly reliant on imports, from areas of the world that are "less stable".
But the Government is still not learning lessons and the study highlights a case where a regional fire service headquarters was planned for a site on a flood plain and next to a railway line carrying radioactive materials.
Mr Edwards calls for the public to be more reliant and plan ahead, such as having appropriate insurance if in a high risk area.
His report will also suggest the four "Es" of community resilience of engaging with the public, educating them, empowering them and encouraging them to do more themselves.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5172557/Britain-has-become-brittle-society-says-think-tank.html