The 2001 Kista Power Failure - Consequences for households and population

On Sunday the 11 of March 2001 a number of electrical power cables caught fire in a service tunnel in the Kista area, Northwest of Stockholm. The fire damaged several cables of the energy company Fortum and caused a power blackout in a suburban area in the Northeast of Stockholm that lasted for more than thirty hours. The blackout affected approximately 16.000 households with roughly 50.000 dwellers and 700 businesses with more than 30.000 employees. The purpose of this study is to describe and document the consequences of the prolonged power blackout for household and population in the affected areas. The focus is on such factors and conditions that in different ways are important people´s basic needs for food, water, heating, hygiene, medical treatment, security, information,communications etc.