In the autumn of 2018, the campaign You are part of Norway's emergency preparedness was launched. The main message was that everyone should think through what incidents and accidents can happen, and plan to be able to take care of themselves and those around them for at least three days in the event of a loss of critical infrastructure, such as electricity, water and mobile networks.
In May 2024, the advice on self-preparedness was updated. The biggest change is that the recommended duration of self-preparedness increased from at least three days to one week. In the autumn of 2024, DSB sent out a new, updated brochure in the mail to all the country's households: How to contribute to Norway's emergency preparedness.
The Population Survey
The DSB conducts an annual survey on Norwegian households' awareness and behaviour related to self-preparedness. The latest survey, published in February 2025, shows, among other things, that:
- More than 4 out of 5 agree that households must be prepared to fend for themselves without society's help for a week.
- Almost 7 out of 10 believe that the individual has a great or very large responsibility for dealing with the consequences of crises.
- The proportion of the population who state that they store drinking water has increased from 21 per cent in 2017 to 47 per cent in 2024.
Self-preparedness week
In 2019, we carried out the Self-Preparedness Week for the first time. Apart from a break in 2020 (due to the corona pandemic), we have arranged a campaign week every year in week 44.
Many people have heard about the campaign and the messages, but it is a long-term work that is needed if we are to achieve the goal of a well-prepared population. With an annual nationwide campaign week with information and activities on self-preparedness, we hope to increase the population's knowledge and awareness so that more people make sensible preparations.
Campaign material on self-preparedness can be downloaded from DSB's media port. The material developed by DSB can be used freely by public actors and voluntary organisations. The material may not be used commercially.
Authorities' and enterprises' self-preparedness
Various requirements are set for enterprises' self-preparedness in sectoral legislation and other regulations. There is currently no overall overview of the requirements that are set.
One of the main principles on which emergency preparedness work in Norway is based is the principle of responsibility. This means that the authority responsible for a subject area in a normal situation is responsible for making the necessary emergency preparedness preparations and for dealing with extraordinary incidents in the area. In order to be able to fulfil this responsibility, the enterprise should map what it depends on to fulfil its responsibility and have the necessary preparedness for situations where access to the dependencies is disrupted.
The Instructions for the Ministries' Work on Civil Protection (the Instructions for Civil Protection) set out requirements for the ministries' work on prevention, emergency preparedness and crisis management. The ministries must continuously and systematically plan for how the ministry's and the sector's functional capacity can be safeguarded within their own area of responsibility when undesirable incidents threaten.
The ministries are responsible for preparing an updated assessment of risk and vulnerability for their sector. On the basis of the risk analysis and an assessment of measures, the ministries shall assess, decide and implement measures to reduce vulnerabilities and weaknesses within the entire area of responsibility. This is to achieve the greatest possible robustness in critical societal functions, and so that organisations and management within the Ministry and subordinate agencies and enterprises are prepared for and able to handle different types of crises. Through agency and corporate governance, the Ministry shall ensure that subordinate agencies, enterprises and state-owned companies safeguard societal security in a systematic manner, including the definition of objectives and priorities.