There’s probably about a thousand different angles one could take on personal emergency preparedness — and the short version is, not nearly enough people are, or even feel that they are, prepared for emergencies. There’s a variety of reasons for this, ranging from the fact that preparedness can be expensive to the fact that we tend to view threats that are amorphous and unclear as non-existent.

But – what can get very interesting is the fact that individuals aren’t the only ones that need to prepare for emergencies. Governments also prepare for emergencies of various types — and are often asked to be the first responders when emergencies happen.

In 2014, researchers dug in to the level of disaster and emergency preparedness in all 27 EU member states. That research utilized the World Health Organization checklist, and found, quote:

The average level of disaster management preparedness in the health systems of 27 European Union member states was 68% (Acceptable). The highest level of preparedness was seen in the United Kingdom, Luxemburg, and Lithuania. Considering the elements of disaster management system, the highest level of preparedness score was at health information elements (86%), and the lowest level was for hospitals, and educational elements (54%).

In other words, emergency preparedness isn’t necessarily something that every government just magically gets right either. It’s all a matter of doing our best, and for many of us, our best may or may not be ready for whatever emergencies we may face.