This article has two main topics: First a short overview about the organization of the disaster prevention in Germany. The second part of this article is about the consequences of a national blackout and how to prepare for this disaster.<\/p>\n
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Today the word \u201edisaster\u201d is often used in our live. Used to describe the latest failed exam or the result of the German football team at the last world cup. But in the view of e.g. a member of the German Red Cross a disaster is something different:<\/p>\n
The World Health Organisation [1] defines a disaster as follows:<\/p>\n
Situation or event, which overwhelms local capacity, necessitating a request to national or international level for external assistance (CRED).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A disaster is usually classified into one of the following three categories:<\/p>\n
Natural disaster<\/h4>\n
Always when extreme weather events lead to a disaster, that\u2019s called natural disaster. Examples for a natural disaster would be a flood, an earthquake or extreme heat with following drought.<\/p>\n
Technical disaster<\/h4>\n
If a technical error leads to a disaster. Examples are all kinds of accidents from trains to a nuclear power plant.<\/p>\n
Man-Made disaster<\/h4>\n
When a disaster is caused by an intentionally or unintentionally action, it is called a man-made disaster e.g. a terroristic attack or a wildfire caused by a dumped cigarette.<\/p>\n
1.2 Disaster prevention<\/h3>\n
In the German law a disaster is a situation, which the normal rescue forces can\u2019t handle anymore, e.g. because of a high number of injured. In this case specials laws start to apply, and the responsible disaster authority now coordinates the rescue actions.<\/p>\n
In Germany every community can declare a disaster to start this process. If more than one community is affected the next disaster instance takes over command, e.g. the government of the federal states the affected community belongs to. The German government takes command if disaster threats the hole country, or if the disaster prevention needs to be coordinated with other countries.<\/p>\n
2. Organization<\/h2>\n
Germany has special structures to deal with disasters.<\/p>\n
2.1 Civil protection<\/h3>\n
Disaster prevention isn\u2019t organized centrally in Germany. Caused by the federal structure of Germany every federal state in Germany has its own disaster prevention laws and forces. Although in special situations the German government is responsible.<\/p>\n
\n\n
\n Federal states<\/strong><\/td>\n German government<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Fire protection<\/p>\n Disaster threating only the specific federal state<\/p>\n
Police<\/p>\n
Emergency care\/supply (on federal levels)<\/td>\n
Civil protection<\/p>\n Military defence<\/p>\n
Disaster threating several states<\/p>\n
Federal police<\/p>\n
Emergency care\/supply (in case of international events (war, pandemic, etc.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
2.2 Involved Organisations<\/h3>\n
A lot of different organisations are part of the disaster prevention. Most members of these organizations are volunteers. That is quite special since no other country in Europe has that much volunteers involved in their disaster prevention strategy. Another particularity is, that there are several organizations, which sometimes have the same tasks. Followed by this, in case of a disastrous situation the coordination becomes more difficult, because there is not just one organisation for all tasks, but several organisations splitting the responsibilities. On the other side these different organizations are common with their local areas.<\/p>\n
Some of the involved organizations are:<\/p>\n
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- German Red Cross<\/li>\n
- Johannites<\/li>\n
- Malteser<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And there is a third point, which is remarkable: Most of this organizations are registered association, so they are partially funded by donations and are forbidden from generating economic profit.<\/p>\n
2.3 Critical Infrastructure<\/h3>\n
Besides the disaster authorities and these aid organisations there is another important member of the German disaster prevention concept: The providers of critical infrastructure like hospitals, water supply, power plants but also gas stations. All these facilities are important for the life of the people and need to function in case of a disaster. Because of this, the providers of such facilities have strict official instructions to secure their infrastructure and to prepare to run autonomous over a certain period.<\/p>\n
3. Blackout<\/h2>\n
In the opinion of a lot of experts a national blackout would be the worst-case scenario for Germany. The consequences would hit the people hard, especially the financially least secured. Because of the lack of energy, the following problems will occur and could become quite dangerous:<\/p>\n
No communication<\/strong><\/p>\n
Without electricity the digital telephones couldn\u2019t work, as well as the technique to root a call. Smartphones have batteries, but they will also lose their power after a certain time. The only possibility for an authority would be to inform the people over radio, but then one with an external power source (batterie, solar, etc.).<\/p>\n
No public transport<\/strong><\/p>\n
Also, the public transport like trains need electricity to run. The driver of cars will also get in trouble because the traffic lights for example also run with electricity. And only a few number of gas stations are prepared to run self-sufficient without electricity. So, the people will run out of petrol as well.<\/p>\n
No water<\/strong><\/p>\n
The public water system also need electricity to pump the water into the households.<\/p>\n
No food<\/strong><\/p>\n
Only a small number of households in Germany have stored enough durable foods at home, to sustain themselves over a longer time. Without electricity it is impossible to cool food, so a lot of things will become uneatable after a short time.<\/p>\n
No medical care<\/strong><\/p>\n
Hospitals are facilities which are prepared to handle a period without electricity, but their measures also don\u2019t work over a longer time. And hospitals will get in trouble without water, like mentioned before. Trash could also become a problem, because someone needs to carry it away. Otherwise hospitals will run in big hygienically problems.<\/p>\n
Hard to bring electricity back<\/strong><\/p>\n
It could last weeks to bring electricity back to every citizen in Germany. The problem is, that most power plants need electricity to start. Only a view number of them have the possibility to start themselves. With these power plants, small \u201cenergy-islands\u201d would be created to bring the big power plants back to life. Because of the complexity of the German electricity-system this process could last a long time.<\/p>\n
So, the consequences of a blackout would be horrible for the people in Germany. But the biggest problem is, that nobody is prepared for the scenario. A study of the Allianz assurance company shows, that most people just trust in their local government and don\u2019t make any private preparations to get more independent from the rescue force. These people forget, that the rescue forces also need electricity to work over a longer period, so after a certain time also the rescue forces become victims of the blackout.<\/p>\n
4. Self-Help<\/h2>\n
In 2010 the German government released new laws and recommendations for the German people. In these laws there were also some hints how everybody can prepare himself better for upcoming disasters. The goal was to become independent from the public infrastructure for two weeks, until help come.<\/p>\n
4.1 Food<\/h3>\n
Everybody should store the following supplies:<\/p>\n