Germany-civil protection: ‘Tasks have increased dramatically with floods, drought, Covid and war in Ukraine’

The new head of civil protection in Germany, Ralph Tiesler wants to better prepare Germany for impending emergencies. To this end, the population should also be held accountable.

The Federal Bureau of Civil Protection and Disaster Relief (BBK) has come under repeated criticism in recent times. A month ago, Ralph Tiesler took over as a new chief. He is now pleading for more disaster response drills among the population.

“We don’t see the population as compensators, but as protagonists” who are “doing something themselves for their own protection,” the top German civil defense official told Dusseldorf’s Rheinische Post newspaper. Therefore, he believes it makes sense “to prepare together for well-grounded crisis scenarios, also with exercises.” Tiesler did not elaborate. “We need to discuss exactly what that might look like,” he added.

Citizens to store food and water

On the anniversary of the flood disaster in western Germany, Mr Tiesler cited a lack of co-operation between central agencies as the main reason for “huge deficits in crisis management”. He said officials learned from this and created the joint civil protection competence center at the Federal Office to bring them all together at one table.

The head of BBK also asked for more money and more jobs for his service – on top of the half a billion euros already approved for 2022. “Tasks have increased dramatically with the recent crises – floods, drought, Covid and now the war in Ukraine,” he said. “Further funding and staffing will be needed.”

Source: Capital

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