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30th Jul 2021

The UK is one of the best places to survive a cataclysmic event, study finds

Kieran Galpin

A study has found there are a handful of countries to survive a cataclysmic event.

As of late, global weather looks to have jumped straight from a 2012 scene. From the horrific wildfires plaguing Oregon to the cataclysmic flooding in China, the world’s weather is becoming more and more violent by the year. But Researchers from Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University have said that the UK, among other countries, would be one of the best places to hold out in should the apocalypse arrive.

The researchers looked at varying events, from extreme droughts and flooding to viral pandemics even worse than Covid-19. Though many would think being an island is a certified death sentence, the research indicates that being surrounded by water is actually a benefit.

The top nations were those to have significantly highly societal and technological ‘complexity’, but also lower temperatures that could fight against the rise in global temperature caused by global warming.

The top countries you could be safe in are New Zealand, which comes in top, with Iceland, the UK, Tasmania and Ireland. New Zealand, for one, has huge sustainable energy reserves, lots of farmland, and a low-density population. The UK’s fertile soil and space for farmland earned it a top spot, but there were concerns over our self-sufficiency.

But the scientists have warned that the planet is entering a crisis due to ‘large and growing risks in “multiple spheres of the human endeavour”.

Professor Aled Jones, one of the researches authors, says he wasn’t surprised at New Zealand’s ranking, but the same could not be said for the UK.

Jones told the Guardian: ‘We were quite surprised the UK came out strongly.’

‘It is densely populated, has traditionally outsourced manufacturing, hasn’t been the quickest to develop renewable technology, and only produces 50 per cent of its own food at the moment. But it has the potential to withstand shocks.’