Space Weather in a National preparedness and emergency planning

In Norway we have the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (Direktoratet for samfunnssikkerhet og beredsskap) (DSB). DSB’s responsibilities regarding civil protection cover national, regional and local preparedness and emergency planning, fire and electrical safety, safety in handling and transport of hazardous substances, as well as product and consumer safety. The Norwegian Civil Defence is part of DSB. DSB reports to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.

Each year DSB publishes a document called “National Risk-evaluation”. The last several issues have contained a chapter on Space Weather and an asessement of the impact of a large solar storm on Norwegian interests. The latest version, from 2013, may be downloaded here.

The report concludes that the overall criticality of a 100-year solar storm is medium for the Norwegian society. The risk of death or injury is considered very low, naturally. The economic consequences are considered high and the strain to peoples daily lives considered very high owing to the prospects of long term power outages. The latter also increase the risk of social unrest (!)…