At the busy service station in Greenland’s capital, staff report unusual demand for two products: petrol and petrol canisters. When it comes to the latter, the bigger the better.
Even at the best of times, Greenlanders pride themselves on being a hardy people, well able for long winters, short days, sub-zero temperatures and months of snow.
But for some here, Donald Trump’s threats to take their island – by force if necessary – means these are the worst of times.
Local man Lars, holding a plastic reserve petrol tank, doesn’t like to think of himself as a “prepper” as he hunts for his preferred term: realist.
READ MORE
“I’ve not felt so insecure before,” said the 50-year-old Nuuk resident, referring to previous Trump talk of taking over Greenland, “but after the US move on Venezuela, I felt nervous all of a sudden.”
As well as petrol reserves, he has bought 35 litres of fresh water and stacks of tinned food. Now he is researching what he can do if the internet goes.
He’s not alone. One of the most popular TikTok videos in Greenland at present shows fellow Nuuk resident Intalik Milne discussing how he has prepared for a crisis situation.
“The first piece of advice is to have a stock of food for several days, maybe five to seven,” he said, “everything from canned food to freeze-dried food.”
Most locals in Nuuk are not engaged in panic-buying, judging by the contents of their trolleys in the capital’s largest supermarket. Most say it is hard to know for what they should prepare.
Across the street in city hall, Nuuk mayor Avaaraq Olsen thinks the best prepping her townspeople can do is in their minds: avoid an overdose of social media speculation, fake news and AI-generated content.
Neither she nor the city authorities have given residents extra public guidance since the latest round of interest in Greenland from Washington.
“People are generally advised to have so-and-so much food and water, but we haven’t had any kind of national resilience measures,” she said, adding that the city has no dedicated reserves.
In her own home, Olsen said she had extra food reserves, water, batteries, candles and power banks, the latter useful during frequent blackouts on the island.
“So personally, I haven’t stepped up, but I know that this is also a reminder,” she said. “We don’t have bunkers in the mountains, but when we have power breakdowns we open sports halls where people can warm up.”
Despite the general calm around Nuuk, a common refrain is surprise – and some annoyance – that they have yet to hear from local authorities on question of: “What if?”
Filling the gap for now are two Unicef leaflets in circulation. One, called “What if?” says: “We must be able to take care of ourselves and our loved ones so that the preparedness system and public authorities can concentrate on carrying out larger and more urgent tasks.”
The other leaflet, “How to support your child in times of crisis”, says “the most important thing is that children are allowed to talk with a safe adult who listens and acknowledges their feelings”.
Unicef’s Greenland chief, Tina Dam, says the leaflets were not prepared for this concrete situation with the US and Trump, but in response to recent extreme situations like the pandemic.
Even though their advice is general, Dam says the demand for the brochures tells its own story: “I hope our little effort to bring attention to the subject might help push forward a plan from Naalakkersuisut [national government], so we can feel secure.”
