Preparedness guide has already accumulated around half a million visits

Aimed at the entire population of Finland, the Preparing for Crises and Incidents Guide was published on the Suomi.fi Web Service in November. The preparedness instructions have reached a large number of people over the first three months.

The majority of those providing feedback on the preparedness guide have been satisfied with its contents. Satisfied respondents accounted for 70% and partly satisfied respondents to 13% of the total. The feedback received will be taken into account in the further development of the contents of the guide.

People visiting the online guide have been particularly interested in the checklist for incidents and in what preparedness means. Topics attracting the largest numbers of views have also included preparedness instructions relating to military conflicts, power cuts, disruptions in communications infrastructure and disruptions in payment systems. All in all, there have been an estimated million views of the contents of the guide.

Stronger perceived safety and security among many respondents thanks to preparedness instructions

The effect of the preparedness instructions on citizens’ perceived safety and security was investigated in December as part of the Citizens’ Pulse survey published by the Government.

The population survey shows that 63% of the respondents had heard about the guide. Around 41% of the respondents found that the preparedness instructions strengthened their perceived safety and security, whereas 9% found that they weakened their perceived safety and security and the rest found that they did not have much effect.

You can only prepare in advance

Preparedness means preparing for various incidents, crises and emergency conditions in advance. Home emergency supplies form the material basis for preparedness, but knowledge and skills gained in advance are particularly important if something unusual happens. The idea is also to familiarise oneself with the guide in advance when there are no ongoing incidents in society.

“Research shows that reading preparedness instructions in advance improves crisis resilience and capacity to function during incidents. It is understandable that the idea of preparing for crises may also cause fear, but at the same time thinking about the risks and threats also strengthens psychological resilience,” says Eriikka Koistinen, Director of Communications at the Ministry of the Interior.

Some people have wondered why a paper copy of the guide has not been delivered to every home.

“The most important thing is to take care of preparedness in advance, before any incident. A website works well for this purpose. Its additional advantages are cost-efficiency and the possibility to update the information. This way we can ensure the instructions are always up to date,” Koistinen says.

A printable summary of the guide is available online in several different languages. Users can print out these PDFs for themselves, for their friends and family, or for access at service points. The online guide also includes information in Finnish and Finland-Swedish Sign Languages. The preparedness guide is available at suomi.fi/guides/preparedness. The guide can also be found through the 112 Suomi mobile app.

The Suomi.fi Web Service provides instructions and services for a variety of life situations. The Ministry of the Interior produced the preparedness guide with the Digital and Population Data Services Agency and an extensive cooperation network. The guide is a compendium of information and instructions on how to prepare for various incidents and crises. The guide deals with situations that would have a broad impact on society and communities. Such situations include long power cuts, water outages, interruptions in telecommunications, extreme weather events and longer-term crises, such as a pandemic or military conflict.

Inquiries:
Eriikka Koistinen, Director of Communications, Ministry of the Interior, tel. +358 295 488 222, [email protected] (guide contents)
Terhi Tuokkola, Chief Specialist, Digital and Population Data Services Agency, tel. +358 295 535 097, [email protected] (Suomi.fi Web Service)