Poll: Most Thais not alarmed by need-to-stockpile warnings

Most Thais have shrugged off reports about countries advising people to keep a three-to- seven days stockpile of food, drinking water, medicines and other essentials , according to a Nida Poll survey.

The National Institute of Development Administration questioned 1,310 people aged 18 or more years nationwide on Nov 2-3, about growing international preparedness advisories urging households to stockpile enough essential supplies for several days in case of future emergency.

The pollster said on Sunday that 77.6% of respondents said they had heard about the advisories, while 22.4% said they had not.

Among those aware of the reports, concern levels remained relatively low. Nearly 36% said they were not concerned at all and 32.8% said they were not very concerned, while 26.9% described themselves as fairly concerned. On 4.3% said they were very concerned.

Asked whether the Thai government should issue a similar advisory, nearly half of respondents (48.6%) said they should wait until the situation becomes clearer, while 36.1% said the government should issue a warning as soon as possible, but 15.3% saw no need for any warning.

When asked what potential events could prompt households to stockpile essential supplies, major flooding topped the list at 34.6%.

This was followed by energy shortages (28.2%), while 26.3% said they were not concerned about any particular issue.

Other concerns included a nationwide internet outage (24.3%), a third world war (23%), cyberattacks on financial systems, infrastructure or transport networks (21.2%), disease outbreaks (18%), conflict in the Middle East (17.6%) and drought (17%).

Less frequently cited concerns were a major earthquake (13.8%), conflict between Thailand and neighbouring countries (13.6%), extreme heat (12.1%), war in Europe (11.7%), haze pollution (6.7%) and domestic unrest (6.4%).