The United Arab Emirates, and Abu Dhabi in particular, are wealthy. Very. All that oil money …

The country, and this emirate, can buy huge developments and the latest technology and foreign experts. It can absorb luxury goods at a high rate. It can create the sense that no problem is so big that it can’t be solved without generous applications of dollars or dirhams.

Except when it comes to a couple of the basics.

Food. And water.

In both cases, the UAE is in a remarkably precarious position.

Earlier this week, the government declared its intent to always maintain a 30-day supply of food staples — flour, rice, cooking oil. Thirty days. Stored away.

Why? Because this country is nowhere near self-sufficiency in food. It’s a desert, remember? It has almost no arable land.

And the government has realized that a major natural disaster or the outbreak of war could leave the country cut off from its regular shipments of foodstuffs from Asia and Africa. That is, people would be starving in a matter of days — until this new system is implemented. Then the country at least has 30 days before we all starve. Thirty days to re-open regular trade routes — or to find alternate sources of grain and fruit and vegetables.

Perhaps an even bigger potential disaster is a lack of fresh water.  Because it would become a critical need much sooner and would impact the population in a much shorter time frame.

This story in my paper brings us up to date on the water situation here, and it is scary.

We already get almost all our water from desalination plants. At a high cost in money and environmental damage. But as the limited sources of ground water are exhausted by a thirsty population, more desalination plants likely will have to be built.

The most interesting stat in this story? The assertion by a water expert, low in the story, about how “the total water reserve in the UAE is five days. This is well-known. It’s a matter of national security.”

For all the money here, all the cash being wired in every day from countries that are gulping oil … this is a fragile, incomplete country. One that can neither feed nor water its inhabitants for more than a few days.

The idea is to ease the problem. By a few degrees.

If something in the region does badly wrong, whether by earthquake or war, this may not be a good place to be.