Spain, Portugal blackout shows need to have a survival kit ready, says EU

The massive blackout that hit Spain and Portugal has highlighted the need to have a survival kit ready for the first hours or days of an emergency, and some cash, the EU's top official for crisis prevention said on Wednesday.

European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said the outage was just the sort of event the EU executive had in mind when it presented its "preparedness strategy" last month, including a recommendation that EU citizens have a 72-hour survival kit.

"What happened in Spain and Portugal and partly in France shows that we need to be prepared. And it's not about alarming our people. It's not about war. It's about all kinds of hazards," she told Reuters.

Lahbib said a key lesson from the blackout was to have some cash. "In times of crisis, of hybrid threats, your cards, bank cards can be just a piece of plastic, unfortunately, so you need to have some cash, but you need also to have a torch, some water, some food and so on."