We Are Growing with the Challenges

Transcription

We Are Growing with
the Challenges
2012 Annual Report
We Are Growing with
the Challenges
2012 Annual Report by the Federal Office of
Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance
Frontispiece: Flooding on the Oder River meadows near Reitwein,
Märkisch-Oderland district (Brandenburg).
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CONTENTS
05
Table of Contents
Foreword06
Technologies for Civil Protection
Foreword by Federal Minister of the Interior Dr. Hans-Peter Friedrich, MP Foreword by President Christoph Unger: In Civil Protection, We Need to Grow
with the Challenges Modular Warning System Is Launched Nationwide and by State
The New System, Based on the Satellite-Supported SatWaS Warning System, Provides Warnings
via Radio, Television, Internet and Paging/Other Connection Devices to Follow
Foundations of Civil Protection
06
08
11
31
32
Geodata: An Important Tool for Civil Protection 34
Extensive Research Produces New Findings in the Area of Remote Sensing
Dortmund Fire Department: Insitute at the Dortmund Fire Department Researches the Use of UAVs 35
THW: THW Uses Satelitte Images to Plan the Construction of Refugee Camps37
Fast, Efficient 24/7 Services The German Joint Information and Situation Center Takes on New Reporting Procedures
for Other Agencies in 2012
12
A Constant Challenge
Civil Protection in Germany: Adjusting to the Changing Framework Conditions
14
Clean Drinking-Water for Emergencies
Guidelines for Risk Analysis and Emergency Preparation for Drinking-Water Supplies
17
A Focus on People
20
Quality Standards for the Crisis Hotline
Psychosocial Conversation Guidelines Developed for Working with the Crisis Hotline
44
International Networking for Civil Protection
The BBK Provider Training and Instruction to Help Countries Worldwide Develop
Effective Disaster Prevention
46
Protecting Cultural Heritage: A Very Special Task
22
Urgently Needed: Assistants for Voluntary Work
BBK Develops Short Studies with the States and Supports the “Augsburger Puppenkiste”
[Augsburg Puppet Theater] Project
12
New Structure: Modular, Powerful, Mobile
38
Additional Medical Task Force Vehicles Are Given by the Federal Government to the States
Vehicles: Deliveries of LF-KatS by the Federal Governement Nearly Complete42
43
Education23
General49
Building Networks for an Integrated Educational System AKNZ Strengthens Contacts with National and International Training, Further Training and
Further Education Institutions as Well as Universities
24
A Window to the Outside: Press and Publicity, 2012 Active Press Releases from the BBK Offer More High-Quality Information for Various Target Groups
50
29
More Tasks, Fewer Personnel
Cutting Jobs Poses Great Challenges for BBK 56
German Technical Knowledge is in International Demand The Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance Advises Brazil
on the 2014 Football World Cup
Legal Notice / Imprint 58
2012 Annual Report
Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance
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FOREWORD
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Foreword by Federal Minister of the Interior
Dr. Hans-Peter Friedrich, MP
Rescuers!) encourages preschool-age children to
help out, regardless of the specific organization;
ultimately, it helps build a sense of responsibility
toward others, making children aware of civil
protection issues at an early age. Given the
increasing number of full-day kindergartens
and schools, the federal government considers
it more and more important to form partnerships with these institutions.
In addition to voluntary service, the focus of our
activities in the past year was on a national risk
analysis, particularly for the scenarios of flooding and pandemics. We submitted a report on
the results to the German Parliament at the end
of the year. The work will continue in 2013 with
a storm scenario.
Dear readers,
I am pleased to use the 2012 Annual Report by
the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) as an occasion to look back
as well as ahead at the significant developments
in the area of civil protection.
with motivations and living situations. The goal
is to develop new strategic measures, and the
overall results should be available in late 2013.
A central theme for the federal government was,
and will remain, support for volunteer work. An
estimated 1.7 million people volunteer in our aid
organizations. The Workers’ Samaritan Federation, the German Lifesaving Association, the
German Red Cross, Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe and
Malteser Hilfsdienst, the volunteer fire departments and the Federal Agency for Technical
Relief (THW) form the backbone of our civil
protection. I want to expressly thank all of these
helpers for their work and their service to others
– they are the cement that holds our society
together, not just in emergencies, but in dayto-day life, making it both lively and worth
living in.
At this time, the federal government is already
using a cluster of measures to encourage
involvement in civil protection. There are
challenging educational opportunities available
at the Academy for Crisis Management, Emergency Planning and Civil Protection (AKNZ) and
at the THW federal schools. We are supplementing the states’ technical equipment with a fleet
of special incident vehicles. Through the THW,
the federal government is providing the states
with a highly effective relief resource. In addition, we award the “Helping Hand” prize for
unusual ideas and projects in the area of voluntary civil protection service. The public award
ceremony is both a recognition of the participants’ work and an effective way to share good
ideas and make them widely known.
Voluntary service in the field of civil protection
needs to be secured in the long term and provided with better support. To this end, the
federal government launched a research project
in 2012. The focus is on evaluating future-oriented projects and best practices in conjunction
A joint project between the federal government
and the “Augsburger Puppenkiste,” a working
group that includes the relief organizations and
the radio station RT 1, was prepared in 2012 and
launched in January of 2013. The short puppettheater film, “Rettet die Retter!” (Rescue the
2012 Annual Report
decision-making. Germany has argued strongly
in favor of leaving resources, and the final
decisions about their use, in the hands of the
member states. Each individual state is first
and foremost responsible for guaranteeing the
protection and safety of its own citizens. The
help and solidarity of the EU and other states
cannot and should not replace this responsibility. Therefore, relief should fundamentally be
financed by the state that will benefit from it.
If an amendment to the Community procedures
is passed in 2013, it will in any case contain new
elements such as a voluntary resource pool. We
will all have to decide how we want to use this
new tool. In particular, the federal states will have
to decide whether and to what extent they will
prepare specific resources
and make them available for
Europe-wide use.
“We accomplished a great deal in
2012, and there are just as many
challenges ahead in 2013.”
We also made significant progress with the
national warning system. The federally supported satellite-based warning system is being
developed further. One goal here is the possibility of connecting additional warning tools with
an “alarm effect.” The federal government and
the states created four projects in the past year
to test the possibility of connecting various
warning tools. These include smoke detectors,
cell phones, sirens and a regional text message
warning system. The new system will go into
technical operation in early July.
In 2012, our work at the level of the European
Union (EU) focused largely on negotiations for
an amendment to the Community procedures
for disaster protection. In these procedures, the
member states voluntarily provide relief to one
another and/or to non-European countries in
the event of serious disasters. With this amendment, the European Commission is striving to
create more predictability and independent
We accomplished a great
deal in 2012, and there are
just as many challenges
ahead in 2013. At this point,
I would like to thank all of the employees of the
Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster
Assistance for their work. I wish you – and all of
us – success and continued good work on the
tasks for 2013!
Dr. Hans-Peter Friedrich, MP
Federal Minister of the Interior
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FOREWORD
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In Civil Protection, We Need to Grow with
the Challenges
Foreword by Christoph Unger, President of the Federal Office of Civil
Protection and Disaster Assistance
Ten years ago, in December of 2002, the Standing Conference of the Federal Interior Ministers
and State Senators (IMK) passed the “New
Strategy for Civil Protection in Germany” as a
consequence of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the Elbe River flooding in 2002.
The main objectives of this strategy were – and
remain – reinforcing federal responsibility in
the event of major national damage incidents
below the threshold of a defense situation, and
improving the collaboration of all the actors in
civil protection across the various administrative levels, traditional roles and responsibilities,
and conventional duties. In order to achieve this
improved collaboration, it was important to
establish a central office of civil protection that
would manage and further develop this network. As a result, the Federal Office of Civil
Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) was
created. The upcoming tenth anniversary of the
IMK decision is reason enough to review it in the
traditional annual report of the BBK, and to take
a look toward the future.
Circumstances and Focal Points
Natural Hazards
In 2012, storms, flooding, earthquakes and
drought caused economic damages totaling 160
billion dollars worldwide. According to Munich
Re, this was the year with the fewest deaths
resulting from catastrophes, but the third most
expensive year after 2011 (due to Fukushima,
among other things) and 2005. In 2012, the BBK
– as part of an alliance of official agencies (see
page 15) – came to the conclusion that extreme
weather conditions will continue to increase
Terrorism Threats
In the abstract, Germany has long been considered at risk for acts of terrorism. Some specific
threats were the attempted bombings of trains
in 2006, the “Sauerland Group” in 2007, and
more recently the suitcase bomb at the Bonn
train station. From natural threats and threats of
terrorism to threats in the cyber sphere, experts
expect the situation to become more hazardous,
not less. In every area, the need is for a stronger
focus on preparation. We will need to take this
into account in the area of civil protection.
These developments will dictate our actions for
the future. In addition, there is the question of
what expectations citizens have from the state
institutions responsible for their safety, for
instance the BBK.
Challenges for the Future
One challenge from 2002’s “New Strategy”
through the year 2100: more very hot days, more
strong precipitation, more winter storms. These
findings are supported elsewhere: insurance
company Munich Re has been gathering data
on natural disasters since the 1970s in order to
implement the findings in hazard and trend
analyses. One study by this reinsurer found that
people will need to prepare for more natural
disasters due to climate change and the resulting
global warming. There is a need for increased
preparation.
Cyber Security
Because of its experience in the area of Critical
Infrastructure Protection (CIP), the Federal
Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance
has partnered with the Federal Office of Information Technology Security (BSI) in the cyber
defense center established in 2011. Information
technology applies to every area of our lives, and
at the same time new hazards are constantly
developing. In particular, IT systems for critical
infrastructures are targets for cyber attacks – a
prominent example is Stuxnet. Therefore, the
BBK, supported by expert opinions, is calling for
increased preparation.
2012 Annual Report
order to investigate the interplay of equipment
and vehicles on the one hand and qualified
assistants on the other, two MTF pilot sites
were created in 2012 with the states of Hesse
and Rhineland Palatinate; their work was
completed in 2012.
The German system of civil protection is run
by 1.7 million volunteer assistants. This civil
protection base is threatened by more than
just the demographic change. In 2012, the BBK
carried out short studies to determine which
concepts could be used to counteract the decline
in numbers of assistants. This is only the first of
many steps that the BBK is using to address the
challenges of voluntary service, fulfilling the
IMK’s call for research to sustainably reinforce
volunteer-based assistance structures in the area
of civil protection.
One of the BBK’s central
tasks is warning the population. If we use the modular warning system
(MoWaS, see page 32) to
build and expand new
technical warning procedures, and work with a
large number of possible end devices, it is
essential for the population to be familiar with
these procedures and end devices in order to
recognize and interpret them. The challenge for
the future, in addition to the technical possibilities, is also the obligation to include everyone. In
order to reach an understanding population that
is capable of helping itself, all of the agencies,
institutions and organizations involved in civil
protection must practice risk communication.
The citizens must know which risks and threats
are possible, what kinds of state aid are available,
and where their own responsibilities lie. Risk
communication is the key to mature, personally
responsible citizenship. Our duty is to keep the
risks to the population as low as possible, even if
we cannot release them from their responsibility
to help themselves.
“Risk communication is the key
to mature, personally responsible
citizenship.”
included a nationwide risk analysis (see page 14).
The BBK developed a method for this and made
it available to all of the states. Risk analyses were
carried out for the threats of “Flooding” and
“Extraordinary epidemic incidents” in 2012. The
findings were collected in a report that will be
submitted to the German Parliament this year.
We will work together to further develop the
risk analysis nationwide in order to create the
basis for risk assessment and evaluation. Only
then can we plausibly carry out risk communications with the citizens as a whole. Since the
approval of the current German Federal Concept
of Vehicle Equipment in 2007, several hundred
vehicles have been delivered. Investments were
also made in training the people who will be
using the vehicles. The new concept also
included developing the Medical Task Force
(MTF – see page 38), among other things. In
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VORWORT
Summary
The risks will not slow down or go away. We
need to analyze the possible risks to the population, further develop our equipment accordingly,
and encourage the people working in the area
of civil protection to use it. The key issue is to
ensure that the necessary volunteer assistants
are available for civil protection. In the event of
an acute threat, we will need a comprehensive
warning system. Finally, we need to inform the
population of the existing risks and strengthen
them in the event of an emergency. This will
be our basis for action in 2013 and the coming
years, since the challenges will not become any
less significant. In the past ten years, our civil
protection system has improved. Now we cannot
slacken our efforts, but instead will need to keep
working hard to make sure that this positive
development continues. Therefore, it is important to improve the essential framework conditions in this area.
There is a lot to do – and we’re ready for the
challenge!
Yours truly,
Christoph Unger
Foundations of
Civil Protection
2012 Annual Report
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FOUNDATIONS OF CIVIL PROTECTION
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Fast, Efficient
24/7 Services
The German Joint Information and Situation Center Takes on New Reporting
Procedures for Other Agencies in 2012
In February of 2012, thousands of people in
Serbia and Bosnia faced extreme cold and
snowfall. Several months later, a series of forest
fires in Southern Europe kept the fire department on its toes. In late July, the container ship
MSC Flaminia, sailing under the German flag,
was damaged by two explosions in the cargo
hold. These are just a few of the many incidents
that extensively occupied the German Joint
Information and Situation Center (GMLZ) in
2012. In the case of the MSC Flaminia, a GMLZ
employee even supported the situation center at
the Central Command for Maritime Emergencies in Cuxhaven on site, creating an interface
with the GMLZ at the BBK.
Since its start on October 1, 2002, the German
Joint Information and Situation Center has
proven itself many times over. It was created
against the backdrop of the “New Strategy for
Civil Protection in Germany,” which was passed
due to the experiences of the Elbe River flooding
in 2002 and the terrorist attacks in the United
States on September 11, 2001. One of the GMLZ’s
tasks is to provide a view of the nationwide
situation for civil protection that is always up
to date. The GMLZ celebrated its ten-year
anniversary in October.
area of civil protection. With 24-hour operations, seven days a week, the GMLZ employees
record the regional situation for civil protection,
which allows them to provide decision-makers
with important information. In addition, the
GMLZ serves as an interface with the situation
centers in other states, and helps coordinate
relief requests domestically and abroad.
New Reporting Procedures in 2012
Since mid-2012, the GMLZ has offered 24/7
services. As a result, it is able to take over certain
reporting procedures for other agencies that
do not have this level of service. For instance,
the GMLZ reports international major incident
situations that have environmental effects;
provides information about international effects
of industrial accidents; and warns people about
biological, chemical and atomic threats at the
European level.
24-Hour Operations, Seven Days a Week
Ultramodern technology allows our 17 employees to respond quickly and efficiently to a wide
array of threats and damage situations. They use
both the German Emergency Planning Information System (deNIS) and a constantly growing
network of in-house and external experts from a
wide range of institutions and agencies in the
The German Joint Information and Situation Center (GMLZ)
always has an eye on the worldwide civil protection situation.
2012 Annual Report
Welcoming remarks for the 10-year anniversary of the GMLZ: Former head Thomas Mitschke (center), his successor Christoph
Schmidt-Taube (right) and BBK Vice President Ralph Tiesler.
One new reporting procedure used by the GMLZ
since 2012 is the reporting procedure in conjunction with security-related incidents in
operating the Galileo satellites. Galileo is the
first EU project involving global satellite navigation. As a national contact point, it is the GMLZ’s
task to provide targeted information to the
responsible contact partners in the event of
attacks on Galileo that affect German territory.
The GMLZ also acts as a national contact point
for another reporting procedure. In the context
of exchanging warnings through a bilateral
information procedure with Belgium in the
event of a power failure/critical supply structure
(EKI), warnings regarding the area of energy in
the EKI are exchanged between Germany and
Belgium. Thus the GMLZ is an important service
provider for the federal government, the states
and other organizations in Germany.
Furthermore, it also proved very attractive to
groups of visitors in 2012. “The GMLZ’s visitors
are diverse and international. It’s not just foreign
government and administration representatives
who enjoy taking a look at the situation center.
Our guests also include high-ranking politicians
such as Parliament members, representatives of
other agencies and private companies, Army
representatives, aid organizations and fire
departments as well as students from colleges
and grade schools,” Frank Hähn says of the
GMLZ. Visitors to the GMLZ are especially
interested in the technical equipment in the
situation center, but also in the tasks of the
GMLZ as such. The technical staff’s presentation
is offered not only in German, but also in
English and French. In 2012, about 500 guests
visited the GMLZ. In the ten years of its existence, there have been nearly 4000 visitors.
Evaluating Large Volumes of Information Is
a New Challenge
In the future, one focal point of the GMLZ’s work
will be processing and visualizing an increasingly larger volume of information. “Today, the
challenges for a situation center no longer
involve obtaining information; instead, the
challenge is to analyze the large volumes of
existing information in such a way that results
can be recognized more quickly than before.
In addition, it is important to analyze the
various pieces of information and to prepare
it appropriately for the various users,” says
Christoph Schmidt-Taube, Head of the GMLZ
since January 2012.
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A Constant
Challenge
Civil Protection in Germany: Adjusting to the Changing Framework
Conditions
Extreme weather conditions, for instance heavy rain, can pose risks.
Storms, flooding, earthquakes, infectious
diseases – the list of dangers that can have a
significant effect on the lives of the population
as well as on public safety and order in Germany
is long. Threats can occur by themselves or in
combination with one another, which creates
especially serious damages. Civil protection
mainly focuses on incidents that are extremely
rare and difficult to predict. That makes it all the
more important to analyze risks so that they can
be minimized. “If I want to exercise preparation,
I need to identify risks well in advance. The
potential scope of the damage needs to be clear
so that we can take appropriate precautions,”
says Dr. Wolfram Geier, Department Manager
at the BBK.
BBK Consults with the States on Risk Analysis
How often can a hurricane like Cyril, to name
one example, take place? How great can the
damage be? These are the kinds of questions
that are posed in a BBK risk analysis.
In keeping with the “New Strategy for Civil
Protection in Germany,” which was passed ten
years ago by the Standing Conference of the
Federal Interior Ministers and State Senators
(IMK), the BBK has developed a target-oriented
and easily implemented method for risk analysis
regarding civil protection in the Federal Republic of Germany. The results of technical
exchanges with various federal agencies, international partner agencies and scholarly institutions were also taken into account here. This
method is suitable for analyzing any and all
risk throughout every administrative level.
Currently, several federal states are performing
risk analyses for civil protection according to the
method developed by the BBK, in the form of
pilot projects. Each pilot project is managed by
the respective state and-/-or free city. “The BBK
can support the projects at the request of the
respective state. An ongoing exchange between
the federal government and the states supports
this collaboration and the shared use of the
findings,” says Angela Clemens-Mitschke, Head
of Division at BBK. At the federal level, the risk
analysis focuses on risks and incidents that are
considered nationally significant. For instance,
in 2012 risk analyses were carried out at the
national level for the risks of “Flooding” and
“Extraordinary epidemic incidents.” These risk
analyses were created by a working group made
up of the appointed divisional agencies for the
area, coordinated by the BBK. The results of the
risk analyses were documented in a report that
was submitted to the German Parliament this
year.
“One success factor for risk analysis is integrating expertise across areas of specialization right
at the start of the procedure in order to cover as
many aspects of the various risks as possible. At
the same time, existing data can be linked using
collaborations across areas of specialization and
across agencies in order to develop reliable
statements,” says Clemens-Mitschke. “Our risk
analysis work at the federal level is ongoing, in
close collaboration with the states,” says the
Division Head.
Above all, civil protection has to adapt to the
extreme weather conditions caused by climate
change. These pose a particular threat to critical
infrastructures (CIP) such as power and water
2012 Annual Report
supply, transport and traffic as well as telecommunications and information technology.
Critical infrastructures are especially vulnerable
because they are interdependent. If the power
supply or information technology system fails,
other CIP sectors can be disrupted or fail as well.
Extreme weather conditions, which we will face
more and more often in the future because of
the effects of climate change, are among the
most common causes of blackouts in the power
supply.
Alliance of Agencies to Help Germany Be Even
More Prepared for Extreme Weather Conditions
For several years, the BBK has been focusing on
how climate change affects civil protection.
Together with the Federal Agency for Technical
Relief (THW), the Federal Environmental
Agency (UBA) and the German Weather Service
(DWD), as the “Strategic Alliance of Agencies” for
Germany, this federal agency hopes to be even
better prepared for extreme weather conditions.
Since 2012, the Federal Institute for Research
on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) has also been part of the team. One
of the starting points for the alliance, which was
created in 2007, was the German adjustment
strategy for climate change. Susanne Krings, a
BBK instructor, has this to say about the alliance: “The goal of our collaboration in the
alliance of agencies is to identify the challenges
that may result from climate change and to
develop possible options for adjusting to them.
This kind of issue requires the help of partners.”
In late October, at a joint press conference in
Berlin, the partners presented selected results
from a detailed research project that investigated the effects of climate change on the
frequency and intensity of extreme weather
incidents in Germany. The results showed that
extreme weather incidents are expected to
increase. Especially in the winter, strong precipitation is expected in the future, particularly in
coastal regions. In addition, we can assume that
it will become significantly warmer. By 2100, the
number of very hot days will increase, according
to the summary by the DWD. As a result, as BBK
President Christoph Unger emphasized at the
press conference, people should be encouraged
to exercise more self-help. “People in Germany
are not yet sufficiently prepared for extreme
weather and its effects. We want to increase the
population’s self-help skills, so that people can
help themselves and others before professional
aid arrives, for instance in the case of a long
power outage.” In addition to brochures, the BBK
is therefore increasingly using new media to
reach children and teenagers.
BBK and its Partners Are Working with Network
Providers to Develop Tools to Prevent LongLasting Power Outages
In 2005, an extreme weather incident caught the
people in the Münsterland region completely off
guard. Unusually high snowfalls forced 250,000
Münsterland residents to get by without power
for days. The enormous masses of snow and ice
snapped a total of 82 power poles like toothpicks,
and cut off important supplies like power, phone
services, drinking water and infrastructures.
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Very few private residents were prepared.
Because of the supply shortages in the Münsterland region as well as after Cyril in 2007, the
Office of Technology Assessment in the German
Parliament (TAB) issued a report investigating
how a long power outage could affect CIP
infrastructures, and how well Germany is
prepared for such a major damage situation.
Their finding: a large-scale, long-lasting power
outage would constitute a national disaster in
Germany. How great is the risk that the power
supply will fail? What kinds of damages could
the population suffer? Who would be affected
when, and how? These are the kinds of questions, explains BBK Head of Division Peter
Lauwe, that actors in the area of strategic
emergency planning – such as firefighting and
municipalities – ask themselves from a “bird’seye perspective” when analyzing the risks of a
power outage. Going into even further detail
from there, and investigating the degree to
which individual institutions are affected,
creates a “high level of security,” says Lauwe.
“The BBK and its partners have collaborated
with parties on the operator level to improve the
systematic documentation and reduction of a
blackout risk,” says Peter Lauwe. This goal was
successful for the BBK, for TÜV Rheinland
Consulting Gmbh (TRC), Fachhochschule Köln
(FH Köln), as well as the company Wölfel Beratende Ingenieure (WBI) and other partners
because of a joint project: GRASB. GRASB refers
to scenario-oriented principles and innovative
methods to reduce the risk of failure in the
power supply, with consideration for the effects
on the population; its goal is to reduce the risk of
a long-term, wide-scale power outage. To this
end, the project is further developing the state of
current science and technology, and reducing
the vulnerability of the power supply, so that the
high supply level can continue to be secured in
the future with very short downtimes. With
GRASB, the BBK and its partners are taking the
entire (power) supply chain into account, from
generation to the end user, in the context of the
changing framework conditions. This includes,
for instance, liberalizing the power market,
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integrating renewable energies into the grid,
global warming as well as a changing global
security situation. “We have worked with
network operators to develop tools that can be
used to document and reduce the risks in the
power supply. As a result, outages will either not
take place at all, or their scope will be reduced,”
says Peter Lauwe about GRASB. The findings
from the project, which was launched in 2009,
were presented to the public in late November.
A special highlight of the event was a panel
discussion that included Marc Elsberg, author
of the bestselling book “Blackout.”
GRASB hopes to take preventative measures
to ensure that a long-lasting, wide-scale power
outage never happens in the first place. However,
if a power blackout does occur, we must be
sufficiently prepared. Starting in 2013, CIP for
Emergency Power – the follow-up project to
GRASB – will be focusing on the issue of emergency power preparation. Lauwe: “The federal
government sees a need for action with regard to
emergency and emergency power preparations.
Naturally there are already some state emergency measures in place in this context, but
there are still gaps, which the follow-up project
to GRASB will fill in.” As an example, Lauwe
mentions the previous attempt to ensure a full
supply level through emergency power devices.
If a power outage even larger than the one in the
Münsterland region should take place, the
existing emergency power devices will no longer
be sufficient. Therefore, we need to consider in
advance how we will respond if the available
emergency materials cannot guarantee a full
power supply.”
2012 Annual Report
Clean Drinking-Water for
Emergencies
Guidelines for Risk Analysis and Emergency Preparation for
Drinking-Water Supplies
During the Elbe River flooding in 2002, sewage
plants overflowed, industrial areas flooded and
some drinking-water lines were destroyed. The
damaged water pipes meant that parts of the
population were cut off from the water supply.
Various measures to supply emergency drinking
water, including the use of emergency water
fountains – in combination with water purifi
cation systems from the Federal Agency for
Technical Relief – ensured that people still had
access to clean water during the disaster. This
example shows how important it is to be able
to provide clean drinking water in case of an
emergency. Since the spring of 2012, the BBK has
been working on a special project in this regard:
“On the basis of the risk management methods
developed by the BBK, we want to determine
dangers and evaluate vulnerabilities as well as
risks relating exclusively to the area of drinkingwater supplies.
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The increasing climate change poses new
challenges for the supply infrastructure, for
instance the increased frequency of extreme
weather incidents in the form of precipitation
and dry spells. In urban areas in particular, the
large number of people affected means that
things become critical if the water supply fails.
work that communities can use to prepare
organizationally and logistically for the worst
case,” says Dr. Ina Wienand, Higher Executive
Officer at the BBK. In developing the guidelines,
it is very important to include all of the major
emergency-supply actors in the process of risk
analysis and emergency planning.
Organizationally and Logistically Prepared
for the Worst
Many communities are insufficiently prepared
for a failure of the public water supply system.
The procedure is divided into two parts. The first
part involves a risk analysis of the water supply
based on various dangers and needs arising, for
instance, from terrorism, natural occurrences
and CBRN situations (chemical, biological,
radiological and nuclear dangers). For each
scenario, the BBK collaborates with a working
group made up of experts from various agencies
and water supply companies to create a risk
“Our guidelines are intended for water supply
companies (WVU) on the one hand, and for the
agencies responsible in the event of an incident
on the other. Above all, that includes health
officials and disaster protection agencies. The
result, for these actors in the field of emergency
preparation for water supplies, is that they will
be able to create a preventative action frame-
2012 Annual Report
analysis, based on workshops and surveys, as an
example for one region.
The findings and/or procedure determined for
this region will then be used as a basis for action
in other administrative districts and free cities.
The workshops will take place based on the
BBK’s method for risk analysis in the area of civil
protection. The results will serve as the basis for
establishing a corresponding emergency preparation concept. They will take into consideration
all of the resources available in the district. In
Germany, there are various emergency preparation resources available for the drinking-water
supply, for instance emergency water fountains,
drinking-water transport vehicles and water
purification systems. However, many communities are hardly or not at all aware where which
of these resources are available, and who can
provide them. In addition, in the past it was
clear that many communities were inadequately
prepared for a larger, longer-term failure of the
public water supply. Thus, the second part of the
project not only focuses on determining the
existing emergency preparation potentials for
the drinking-water supply in a district, but also
on determining the need for resources. The
guidelines commissioned by the Ministry of the
Interior will be completed in the fall of 2013.
20
21
International Networking
for Civil Protection
The BBK Provider Training and Instruction to Help Countries Worldwide
Develop Effective Disaster Prevention
The BBK’s expertise is in high demand around
the world. In particular, its crisis management
training and long-term instruction for the
effective development of disaster prevention
structures are very popular. In addition, the BBK
encourages an international, cross-specialization exchange of knowledge between state and
private actors in the field of disaster protection.
Three examples from 2012 demonstrate this:
The BBK Improves Chinese Risk and Disaster
Management
In order to respond to devastating disasters such
as flooding, droughts, storms, forest fires and
earthquakes even more effectively in the future,
the Chinese government is very interested in
improving its extensive risk and disaster management strategy. The BBK is providing a significant level of support for the country in this area.
Together with the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Federal Agency for
Technical Relief (THW) and its partners in the
Chinese government, the BBK has provided
training and instructional measures as part of
the Sino-German Disaster Risk Management
Project. The goal was to improve China’s risk
and disaster management both in the area of
prevention and preparation as well as in the area
of dealing with disasters. That includes, for
instance, developing comprehensive Chinese
task forces through the BBK’s own Academy for
Crisis Management, Emergency Planning and
Civil Protection. Task-force exercises were
developed for the training, along with a manual
for lecturers in the field of crisis management.
This includes all of the useful tools from the
German system, adapted to China’s specific
culture and the local civil protection system.
This knowledge was reviewed by the responsible
disaster protection agencies in Beijing and
Chongqing. “The entire project was ultimately
so successful because the BBK was able to
involve its extensive network of experts. For
instance, disaster protection workers from
Berlin and Cologne supported our work on
occasion,” reports Department Head Dr. Wolfram Geier. In addition, there is a great opportunity for Germany to take away an enormous
amount of knowledge from the project. Since
China has regularly faced various disasters in
the past, the country has gathered plenty of
experience in this area. “China is an equal
partner with whom we enjoy working. We can
learn a great deal from the German-Chinese
crisis management project, for instance the
ability to mobilize all of our social forces in the
event of a disaster,” says Dr. Geier.
Strengthening Disaster Preparations in Tunisia
Creates Stability
In close collaboration with Tunisian Civil Protection (ONPC), the BBK is working on behalf of the
Foreign Office to build new structures that will
respond more effectively to crisis situations. The
project is financed by resources that were provided by the German Parliament to the Foreign
Office for designing the transformation process
in North Africa. The partnership is intended to
support the democratic change in Tunisia. “It is
very important to strengthen disaster preparations in Tunisia,” says project coordinator Orsola
Lussignoli. “Appropriate protection for the
people and the infrastructure, especially in the
current transformation phase after the revolu2012 Annual Report
tion, will help stabilize the society.” The longterm goal of the German-Tunisian pilot project
is to strengthen crisis management training and
to build a professional firefighting system, while
including volunteers in the selected cities of El
Kef and Sfax in the long term and improving
disaster protection in Tunisia as a whole. In
another project, the THW is also helping Tunisia
develop volunteer-based structures for disaster
protection.
Because the Tunisian partners are focusing on
improving firefighting approaches, the BBK is
working with the municipal fire department
from Frankfurt am Main as a project partner.
Division Head Dirk Kaltheier: “It is impressive to
see our Tunisian colleagues’ strong commitment
to firefighting and emergency services. Therefore, we are very pleased that we can help materially strengthen the Tunisian threat prevention
system through this project.” The projects for
2013 include training measures for members of
the Tunisian civil protection service, and adding
fire trucks to reinforce local fire departments.
International Expert Symposium on the Topic
of Extreme Weather Incidents
The increasingly fruitful cooperation between
the BBK and other states was also demonstrated
in November at an international expert symposium in Bonn. Experts from Germany’s neighboring countries accepted the BBK’s invitation to
discuss potential improvements to international
communications between Germany and its
bordering states. The starting point of the
discussion: disasters can be caused not just by
technical issues, but also by extreme weather
resulting from climate change. Nadia vom
Scheidt, Head of Division for International
Affairs: “Civil protection actors in Germany and
in our neighboring states face similar challenges
due to their geographic location and their
comparable levels of technological development.
Thus, there is a shared interest, especially in light
of extreme weather, in working more closely
with other state services – for instance in the
areas of early warning and risk management.”
„(Top) Dr. Wolfram Geier, BBK Department Head for Contingency Planning, Critical Infrastructures and International
Affairs, explains the risk analysis method in the context of the
„“Risk Management“ seminar series with the Chinese pilot
provinces. (Center)Orsola Lussignoli (BBK, Project Manager for
Germany) in conversation with Michael Müller (Municipal Fire
Department, Frankfurt am Main) and Ramzi Dhafer (INSARG
Project Manager for Tunisia) in Tunisia. (Bottom) Opening panel
at the BBK Expert Symposium on Extreme Weather Conditions
in Bonn on November 22,2912.“
After the expert symposium, all of the neighboring states said they were very satisfied with the
lively exchange between specialists in the field,
and said they would welcome a continuation of
the dialogue as well as further international
networking.
22
Protecting Cultural Heritage
A Very Special Task
Protecting cultural heritage is an important task
for the BBK. In particular, making backup microfilms of nationally valuable archives and library
holdings is a strong focus. Dr. Bernhard Preuss,
Head of the Division for “Research, Protection
Commission, Technical Information Office, Protection of Cultural Goods” at the BBK, reports
on the current challenges for backing up archives
and how the BBK is dealing with them.
What do we mean by backing up archives?
“Creating backup microfilms is an aspect of protecting cultural heritage for which the BBK is
responsible as part of the Hague Convention of
1954. On behalf of the federal government, we
save important documents that are of historical
interest and reflect significant state events and
decisions on microfilm. For instance, we are currently backing up the central denazification files
(1946/47) in Hesse. 75 federal and state microfilm photographers are currently capturing 20 to
40 million microfilm images a year at 14 microfilm offices. So far, 970 million images have been
stored in more than 1400 steel containers at the
Barbarastollen shelter in Oberried, the central
storage facility for Germany.”
What are the current and future challenges for
protecting cultural property?
“Saving important documents on microfilm is a
very special task that requires a certain amount
of specialized knowledge. However, this specialized knowledge is no longer taught in schools. In
addition, we need to consider the best way to use
the available digital data. One of the BBK’s other
duties is to inform the public about the Hague
Convention and to share its wording. The Hague
Convention is an agreement under international
law to protect cultural property in the event of
armed conflicts. Brochures are one way to inform
the public. However, we are always looking for
new ways to fulfill our duties.”
How is the BBK dealing with these challenges?
“The BBK offers further education for the filming staff in the federal states, which will now take
place annually. The point is not just to bring the
employees up to date with the state of the art,
but to refresh their existing knowledge. The first
training session for filming staff took place in
Oberried on May 22 and 23. The goal was to create high-quality test images and to evaluate test
images. Other topics included workplace protection and workplace safety. In addition, BBK
employees toured the Barbarastollen shelter
together with the 25 participants. In late September, the storage shelter in Oberried opened its
A safety film was created especially for young visitors to the
storage facility, telling the story of Max and Flocke – with a
magnifying glass that could be used to explore the film
in more detail.
doors to curious visitors as part of an open house
event. Because our BBK children’s webpage, www.
max-und-flocke-helferland.de , is celebrating its
first birthday this year, we also invited elementaryschool children to come tour the shelter. The event
was a great success, and I am confident that the
children were able to learn something.”
2012 Annual Report
Education
24
EDUCATION
W 25
Building Networks for an
Integrated Educational System
AKNZ Strengthens Contacts with National and International Training,
Further Training and Further Education Institutions as Well as Universities
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and
the Elbe River flooding in 2002 made it clear that
the civil protection system needs to be prepared
for crisis situations, and is facing new challenges. As a result, the “New Strategy for Civil
Protection in Germany” was created by the
Standing Conference of the Federal Interior
Ministers and State Senators. The goal of this
strategy is to more closely network the collaboration between the federal government and the
states when preparing for and handling nationally significant threat and damage situations.
With the BBK’s founding in 2004, the agency’s
Academy for Crisis Management, Emergency
Planning and Civil Protection (AKNZ) was
reorganized. Since then, the growing numbers
of participants and courses have shown how
important it is to provide training and further
education for managers and decision-makers in
the area of civil protection. However, the AKNZ
is not solely responsible for this: “Based on the
new civil protection strategy’s objective to create
an integrated aid system, the AKNZ continued to
pursue its goal of realizing an integrated educational system in 2012. What is important here is
not to act as an independent federal educational
institution, but to work closely with the other
state educational institutions, organizations and
the federal government. Thus in 2012, we were
primarily concerned with building additional
networks,” says Thomas Mitschke, Head of the
AKNZ. Currently, the AKNZ is building contacts
with national and international training,
further training and further education institutions as well as universities, and is organizing
coordinated events with and/or for them. The
Federal Academy for Security Policy, the German Senior Military Academy, the German
Participants and lecturers during the practical exercises for
CBRN sampling.
Crisis management seminar at the administrative academy in
Beijing, supported by the AKNZ.
Police Academy and the Foreign Service Academy are the partners with which the AKNZ
works most closely. With regard to universities,
the BBK academy is currently in national
partnerships with the University of Bonn, the
Police Academy in Hamburg, the Hochschule für
Öffentliche Verwaltung (Public Administration)
in Bremen, the Bergische Universität Wuppertal
and the Johanniter-Akademie in Münster. In
addition, another partnership is currently being
arranged with the Berlin School of Economics
and Law.
Desired Certification for AKNZ Offers Many
Advantages.
At the international level, crisis management
seminars and exercises for border districts are
particularly being held with our Dutch colleagues. There are partnerships with the Nederlands Instituut Fysieke in Arnhem as well as
other European training institutions, for
instance in Austria, Poland and Denmark. The
UN and NATO use the AKNZ as a meeting
facility for working groups, and as a training
center for holding international events. In
addition, the UN holds seminars on civil-military partnerships at the AKNZ. The state firefighting schools as well as the schools for aid
organizations and technical relief also hold a
special place in the AKNZ network.
In 2012, the AKNZ led a total of 384 seminars,
workshops and conferences. In addition, 100
other events were held, such as symposia,
weekend events for third parties, and informational events for visitors. The total number of
participants was 9,137.
Participants and lecturers during the practical exercises for
chemical measurement technology.
Decontamination exercise for injured people.
2012 Annual Report
In addition to developing stronger networks,
Thomas Mitschke has made AKNZ’s national
and international certification as an educational
institution – as per the ISO 29990 quality
management system – an important goal. A
pedagogical concept and mission statement were
created in 2012, as well as a quality management
approach. That laid the foundations for developing the AKNZ into a “pedagogical competence
center” for civil protection. Introducing the new
ISO 29990 quality management system, which
was developed specifically for training and
further education, and becoming certified offers
advantages for national and international
partnerships, among other things, as well as a
comprehensive evaluation of the AKNZ’s work.
Internationally relevant events have
high priority
In 2012, numerous seminars promoted international exchanges in the area of civil protection.
In July, for instance, more than 90 college
students from a total of 26 countries – including
Egypt, Japan, Argentina and the United States
– used their summer break to attend the AKNZ
Summer Academy and learn about the principles
of civil protection. 70 lecturers, including
experts from the UN, EU, and NATO gave
lectures explaining the basics of national and
international crisis management; the students
then had an opportunity to put the theory to the
test. For instance, some of the exercises involved
coordinating the use of relief workers after a
natural disaster, or organizing life in a large city
26
EDUCATION
27
during a power outage. The goal of the BBK
Summer Academy is to present participants with
situations for which they have been given little
preparation in the past.
practiced rescuing victims from the danger
zone, providing emotional first-aid measures
and decontaminating injured persons. A second
course at the AKNZ is planned for 2013.
In November, in the context of the educational
events for the European Commission, 15 European experts had to demonstrate nerves of steel
and well-developed technical skills. They took
part in the High Level Coordination Course
(HLC), which the AKNZ put on in the Netherlands on behalf of the European Commission.
The BBK was supported here by its proven
partners – the Austrian Ministry of the Interior,
the State Fire Department Academy in Poland,
and the Netherlands Institute for Safety. The
focus of the two-day exercise was a flooding
scenario that involved difficult negotiation
situations for the EU experts. In the HLC and
Refresher courses (HLCR), experts from the 27
EU member states and other countries receive
regular training. The courses are intended to
help them represent the European member
states in countries affected by a disaster, and to
coordinate the assistance.
The seminar series “Fit for Europe” illustrates
how the European Community procedures are
developing for disaster protection; the series also
addresses the comprehensive work with European partners and other EU member states. “Fit
for Europe” is intended to optimize disaster
prevention and disaster responses throughout
the EU. To this end, BBK employees as well as
external experts in the Community procedures
are contributing their skills from participating
in EU committees, projects and incidents.
In the course of the training event for the United
Nations, last year also saw the first annual
United Nations Humanitarian Civil-Military
Coordination (UN-CMCoord) course at the
AKNZ. In late August, 27 civilian and military
experts came together from organizations and
countries such as Mali, France and the United
States to learn about how the others did their
work. The seminar was intended for specialists
who will act as liaisons in crisis regions between
the international civil actors and the parties to
the conflict. Using many case studies, the
structures and methods of humanitarian and
military organizations were discussed, and
interfaces and challenges were discovered. Each
day of the event had a different focus. Two days,
for instance, were dedicated to the possible
effects of natural disasters and complex crises.
AKNZ employees supported three international
experts from the area of Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) in terms of the content. That makes
Successful Partnership Between the German
Police Academy and AKNZ
In order to integrate the German police even
more effectively into the civil protection system,
students from the German Police Academy
(DHPol) took part in the ninth annual training
session at the BBK’s own academy in February
2012. For more than 140 police officers from all
over Germany, the assignment was to handle
four different training scenarios: a train accident, hazardous waste emissions at a fictitious
company, a power failure in parts of the city of
Münster, and the hard landing of an airplane
full of passengers. The exercise not only involved
installing 180 computers and 160 telephones, but
also laying 3.5 km of cable in the eight exercise
rooms. The exercises were
led by 80 police officers, fire
fighters and academy
instructors. Overall, the
training lasted twelve
hours.
“Knowing your partner well makes
it easier for you to work together in
crisis situations. ”
Uwe Becker, an AKNZ instructor
(Top) Psychosocial support for victims under the traumatic
conditions of a CBRN risk situation. (Center) Informational
sign from the Chinese administration academy in Beijing.
(Bottom) Seminar participants from Bahrain during the
presentation on their country’s CBRN organization.
the AKNZ the only European host of this UN
course, which has now been offered 127 times.
Another premiere at the AKNZ was a course for
trainers of CBRN first responders. 15 participants from nine nations were introduced to the
international training curriculum developed by
NATO, as well as civilian experts. The goal was
to create a common understanding of chemical,
biological, radiological and nuclear threats,
CRBN for short, and to improve collaboration
during national and international CRBN disaster
aid incidents. The high points of the course were
the exercise modules, in which participants
2012 Annual Report
Special bilateral partnerships are in place for
educational institutions in Tunisia and China. In
both China and Germany, as part of the training
for high-level Chinese administrative agents and
officials at all levels, 24 lecturers from the
National Institute for Emergency Management
and the provincial administrative academies
were trained as crisis management teachers.
“Knowing your partner well makes it easier for
you to work together in crisis situations. Therefore, internationally focused education will play
a more important role at the AKNZ in the
future,” says Uwe Becker, an AKNZ instructor.
Becker, together with other lecturers, provided
on-site support for their colleagues from the
Chinese administrative academy in implementing the new training courses (See also: International networking for civil protection, page 20).
The general staff drill is
another example of the successful cooperation between the AKNZ and the
DHPol. Nicole Bernstein, Police Chief Superintendent and AKNZ instructor, on the close
collaboration: “In the last few years, we have
trained more than 1000 superintendents. In
addition, police managers contribute their skills
to the training as guest lecturers at the AKNZ
staff seminars. In general, the BBK is very closely
networked with the federal and state police
stations.”
More than 5,000 participants at the AKNZ’s
CIMIC further training sessions in the past
few years
The AKNZ is particularly proud of being the
only civil educational institution that trains
soldiers from the German Armed Forces. In
2012, this form of Civil-Military Cooperation
(CIMIC) celebrated its ten-year anniversary.
28
EDUCATION
What is CIMIC? The Civil-Military Cooperation
of the German Armed Forces (CIMIC AF) is an
independent division within the Armed Forces
and describes the partnership between civil and
military agencies. A distinction is made between
domestic CIMIC and international CIMIC. In
the event of serious accidents or disasters, the
responsible crisis management group can call
upon the Armed Forces for assistance. Civil aid
institutions such as fire departments and technical relief agencies are then provided with additional material and personnel. Various forms of
assistance during serious accidents and during
the flooding incidents in recent years, as well as
parallel missions by military and aid organizations in other countries, have shown that the
cooperation between soldiers and civil assistants
is necessary and by now almost the norm.
Reservists play a key role in CIMIC. They act as
representatives of the Armed Forces, to advise
civil agencies and organizations on every aspect
of military disaster aid in the case of civil-military cooperation. They receive some of their
training at the AKNZ. The AKNZ seminars are
attended by soldiers on active duty and CIMIC
reservists, as well as by representatives of the
organizations and institutions participating in
disaster protection and disaster relief. “The
shared knowledge of the participants can be
used, for instance, to include specialized military knowledge in the planning for disaster
protection and disaster aid at an early stage. That
makes it clear where and how the Armed Forces
can provide the best assistance,” says Lieutenant
Colonel Markus Schrader, an instructor for
Civil-Military Cooperation at the AKNZ. For
ten years, the AKNZ has been holding CIMIC
seminars both domestically and abroad, in the
context of an administrative agreement between
the Federal Ministry of Defense and the Federal
Ministry of the Interior. In past years, more
than 5,000 members of fire departments, relief
organizations and administrations, political
representatives, scientists, company representatives, soldiers on active duty and reservists from
Germany and other countries have taken part in
the AKNZ’s further training for CIMIC, as well
29
as in various workshops and forums. Currently,
about 400 people receive CIMIC training at the
Academy for Crisis Management, Emergency
Planning and Civil Protection every year; the
main focus is on training leaders.
In the future, new CIMIC offerings at the BBK
academy will be directed even more specifically
toward higher-level and top executives. For
instance, the executives of the Regional Security
and Support Forces (RSU ) of the Armed Forces
will likely be trained at the AKNZ starting in
2013. The RSU forces primarily perform military
activities, but they can also support active troops
in providing disaster relief. The topic of CivilMilitary Cooperation was also a focus of the 8th
European Civil Protection Conference, at which
the BBK once again took part this year. From
September 18 to 19, more than 700 participants
from 20 nations met in the Bonn-Bad Godesberg
Town Hall, to reflect on political developments
as a group, to strengthen their partnerships and
to forge networks.
German Technical Knowledge
is in International Demand
The Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance Advises
Brazil on the 2014 Football World Cup
While the stadium visitors in the stands and the
viewers at home are raptly watching every move
of the ball, these observers are on high alert:
rescue services, the fire department and civil
protection. At large events, like the 2006 Football World Cup in Germany, they are responsible
for the safety of the visitors and the players. In
2006, the federal government, states and host
cities were able to gather extensive experience in
terms of protecting soccer fans. The outstanding
organization of the “summer fairy tale” brought
Germany international respect.
BBK Advises World Cup Host Brazil
Training and Exercises at the Initiative of
the BBK
This success was due in no small part to training
sessions, exercises and concepts that dealt with
the entire spectrum of non-police measures for
preventing threats, and were prepared according
to uniform standards. They took place at the
initiative of the BBK and in partnership with the
Working Group of Heads of Municipal Fire
Departments in the Federal Republic of Germany in the German Association of Cities
(AGBF), which had set up a working group for
this purpose.
The Technical Knowledge of German Experts Is
in Demand in Other Countries
The successful work by the BBK and its partner
in the area of World Cup security caught the
attention of other countries. After the 2006
Football World Cup, the German experts and
their specialized knowledge were in high
demand for large sporting events in particular,
including at the European Championships in
NATO’s International CBRN
Training Curriculum.
2012 Annual Report
2008 and 2012. In addition, the BBK and AGBF
were especially involved in preparing and
carrying out the Football World Cup in South
Africa in 2010. Various missions were carried
out with financing from InWEnt, a federally
owned company within the Federal Ministry for
Economic Cooperation and Development. The
goal was to provide information about leadership, collaboration between all of the participating offices and agencies, communication and
other specialized topics.
In 2011, Engagement Global, the German contact partner for development-policy action in
Germany and internationally, came to the BBK
with a special request: to review whether the
Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster
Assistance could share its specialized knowledge
with the host country of Brazil for the next
World Cup in 2014 – another welcome partnership for the BBK, as soon became clear. The
details of the partnership were quickly established after a few meetings, and a corresponding
program was developed. Finally, about 30
Brazilian leaders met with German experts from
September 14-18, 2012, at the BBK Academy for
Crisis Management, Emergency Planning and
Civil Protection (AKNZ) to discuss security for
large events.
“The main goal is to take advantage of the
knowledge and experience from past World
Cups.”
The esteem that Brazil’s politicians have for the
partnership with the BBK was emphasized by
30
Running with the big dogs: The Brazilian delegation was excited about the THW rescue-dog team, which demonstrated its skills
during the 8th European Civil Protection Conference in Bonn.
the participation of a Minister and two State
Secretaries.
In addition to the working group of AGBF
experts, representatives from the German side
included people from the areas of non-police
threat prevention and public health in the
German World Cup cities from 2006. From
Brazil, representatives came from the cities of
São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Manaus, Rio
de Janeiro and Recife. Members at the state level
were also represented.
“We are discussing security-related aspects,
from hospital alarm planning and infection
prevention to crisis management, risk and crisis
communication during large events,” explained
Dipl.-Chem. Claus Lange, Director of the Hanover Municipal Fire Department and head of the
AGBF working group on the 2014 World Cup.
Ralph Tiesler, Vice President of the BBK, added:
“The main goal of the German-Brazilian
exchange is to take advantage of the knowledge
and experience from past World Cups for the
Brazilian World Cup host cities and to deal with
the challenges of the 2014 World Cup.”
Infrastructure and Medical Supplies Are
Problematic
It’s no easy task, as it turned out. Given the
challenges that a large event like the Football
World Cup brings with it, the infrastructure of
Brazilian local public transport, for instance, is a
potential problem, along with outpatient and
inpatient medical care in the host country. “The
supply density and quality in Brazil are not only
lower, but they are also organized differently
throughout the country,” says Dieter Franke, a
BBK employee. Thus, it makes sense to work
together, especially on issues like chemical,
biological, radiological and nuclear threat
prevention – CBRN for short – and in planning
for and dealing with a major accident. An on-site
informational tour was organized in Brazil in
December 2012, led by two fire service officials
from the AGBF team.
Large Events Professionally Prepared,
Organized and Followed Up by the BBK
Working Group
The five-day workshop at the AKNZ was organized and led by the Working Group for Civil-Protection-Related Issues at Large Events (AG BAG)
at the BBK, headed by Beate Coellen. The working group grew out of AG WM 2006 and the
realization that large events can pose a particular risk. Language problems, differing mentalities and political interventions require planners
to take every conceivable scenario into account
in advance. That is why AG BAG is a good
contact partner when it comes to organizing,
preparing for and following up on large events
and civil-protection-related issues. The working
group draws from an extensive network of
experts, and thus a large amount of specialized
knowledge. The goal of AG BAG is to combine
the knowledge acquired by event organizers and
official agencies, and to create standards. As a
result, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil will be very
interesting, and not just from an athletic point
of view.
2012 Annual Report
Technologies for
Civil Protection
32
TECHNOLOGIES FOR CIVIL PROTECTION
33
Modular Warning System Is
Launched Nationwide and by State
The New System, Based on the Satellite-Supported SatWaS Warning System, Provides
Warnings via Radio, Television, Internet and Paging/Other Connection Devices to Follow
In October, a cloud of poisonous gas gave the
residents of Bad Fallingbostel, in Lower Saxony,
a serious scare. It was created by the accidental
mixing of acids at a food manufacturing plant,
and forced people to evacuate their homes. It was
for incidents like this that the modular warning
system (MoWaS) was developed by the federal
government and the states; its pilot phase is now
complete. In the future, the modular warning
system will provide warnings and information
to the population in the event of nationwide
disasters as well as regional and local incidents.
Satellite-Supported System Provides Warnings
About Disasters and Attacks
The federal government is responsible for
documenting special threats to the population
in the event of a defense incident, and for
warning the citizenry. The active warning is
provided by the states on behalf of the federal
government, using the structures that the states
already have in place for warning the population
in the event of a disaster.
During the Cold War, West German civil protection and East German civil defense alike mainly
used sirens and radio to provide warnings to
the population. In the early 1990s, the security
situation in Europe relaxed significantly because
of the historic change in Central and Eastern
Europe. The civil-protection network of sirens
was dismantled, and the federal government and
states agreed to use radio as the main warning
system in the event of major damage situations,
disasters and in case of defense. The advantage
of radio: not only does it allow threats to be
announced, but it also allows behavioral rules to
be communicated to the population. In order to
transmit warnings to radio stations as quickly as
possible, the federal government and states can
now use the satellite-supported warning system
(SatWaS). The government launched SatWaS on
October 15, 2001, just after the terrorist attacks
on the World Trade Center. All of the public
radio stations and most of the private radio
operators are connected to the system, along
with press agencies, internet providers and the
German rail system, Deutsche Bahn. SatWaS is
operated by the BBK. “Both the civil protection
liaison offices (ZSVerbSt), which were set up in
order to document threats in the air, and the
warning center in Bonn (WarnZ Bonn), as well
as the situation centers at the states’ Ministries
of the Interior were equipped with the necessary
receivers and transmitters for SatWaS. Today, the
German air-threat warning system is among the
best in the NATO states.
The previous findings from the MoWaS project
were presented to the public at a press conference
held in September at the BBK’s civil protection
liaison office, in the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre in Kalkar (Lower Rhine). Since 2006,
the civil protection liaison office has employed
eight BBK staff members to monitor the general
air-space situation over Germany 24 hours a day.
“Compared to SatWaS, the difference is that
MoWaS allows us to send out warnings across
various levels. In addition, the modular warning
system has another advantage: in the future,
it will be possible to connect any number of
warning end devices to the system through a
standardized interface. That includes sirens,
smoke alarms and mobile phones, for instance.
The signals from these additional warning
elements send an early alert or warning to the
population in the event of a threat,” says Gerrit
Möws, Head of Division at the BBK.
Further Developed -Warning System to Provide
Even Faster, More Targeted -Iinformation
Since SatWaS can only provide a limited alarm
system via the connected paging service providers, and is not connected to the regional alarm
systems, it has been further developed since 2009
as a joint project of the federal government and
the states, creating the modular MoWaS warning
system. MoWaS can also be used to warn the
population during regional threats such as
storms, flooding and chemical accidents. With
MoWaS, the civil-protection representatives, i.e.
from the federal government, state, disaster
protection agency or central office, will be able
to send out alerts directly to all of the warning
systems within their area of responsibility.
2012 Annual Report
Three Significant Advantages of MoWaS
The modular warning system is distinguished
by three main advantages: 1. Warning messages
are geo-referenced when processed in MoWaS;
in other words, they are defined spatially, with
reference to a specific area. That makes it possible
to send messages selectively to the affected area,
with instructions or alerts and warnings. 2. The
ability to send messages from various levels
allows the locally responsible agencies to send
official warnings from their main offices for their
area of responsibility, in other words, their
municipality or district, directly and immediately
to the media. 3. The standardized MoWaS interface makes it possible to connect a large number
of systems suited for warning the population,
with and without alert effects. By the end of 2013,
all of the federal states will be equipped with the
new system in at least two locations. The costs
will be paid by the federal government.
34
35
Dortmund Fire Department
Geodata: An Important Tool
for Civil Protection
Extensive Research Produces New Findings in the Area of
Remote Sensing
Until recently, remotely piloted aircraft systems
(RPAS) were exclusively used by the military.
However, that has now changed. Today, this
relatively new technology is also used for civil
protection. In particular, fire departments are
increasingly using small, agile, remotely controlled
aircraft, and are actively taking part in related
research. The improved flight characteristics and
longer flight times are making these “flying explorers” more and more attractive. “Unmanned aircraft
are increasingly being used for civil protection. It
makes sense to use them whenever measurements
and observations are being made over a longer
period of time in a dangerous or inaccessible area,”
says Dr. Michael Judex, Higher Executive Office at
the BBK. The use of RPAS for civil protection
guarantees more security for citizens, but also for
rescue workers, fire departments and technical
relief agencies. Incident commanders can receive
information much more quickly, and, above all,
with better quality. That allows them to coordinate,
act and make plans even more efficiently.
Network of Sensors Successfully Tested
In May 2012, the BBK worked with research teams
from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the
Munich Fire Department to test the first successful
network of sensors. This sensor network consisted
of various satellites, an airplane, unmanned
Insitute at the Dortmund Fire Department Researches the Use of UAVs
The Institute for Fire Fighting and Rescue Technology at the Dortmund Fire Department is currently
researching the use of UAVs (unmanned aerial
vehicles) in three different projects. The individual
projects focus on air pollutant measurement using
multiple UAVs working as a group (like a swarm
of bees); simplified controlling of ground and air
robots; and remote sensing of hard-to-survey incidents. That includes, for instance, natural disasters
and accidents caused by people. Currently, UAVs
are mainly used for assessing the situation. “Photos or videos are transmitted from the incident site
to a ground station, giving the incident commanders a better overview of the situation and allowing them to deploy units more effectively. That
allows the incident staff to work more safely, and
aircraft and ground-based sensors. The latter used
what is known as floating car data, recording the
positions and speeds of a vehicle fleet – in this case
taxis in Munich – via the global positioning system,
or GPS.
This experiment allowed the researchers working
on the final game of the 2012 Champions League to
gather extensive information in order to assess the
situation. “It was especially interesting for us to
receive the information about large crowds of
people and the flow of visitors. Nowadays it’s
relatively easy to use cameras in the stadiums to
track people’s movements, but of course that’s not
the only place where there are large crowds of
people. So the game provided the ideal conditions
for our experiment,” reports Dr. Michael Judex.
Tests of the sensor network helped them determine
the best ways to combine the various sensor and
situation assessment systems. In addition to the
question of where the crowds of visitors were
moving, the focus was also on observing the traffic
situation. The results of the experiment showed
that various remote sensors could be used simultaneously and complementarily to assess the situation, for the most part in real time. The resulting
The unmanned aircraft used during the “Sensor Association Experiment” in Munich.
2012 Annual Report
they can provide faster help to affected persons,”
explains Dr.-Ing. Hauke Speth from the Dortmund
Municipal Fire Department. Despite the advantages, says Speth, there are still limits to the use of
a UAV. For instance, it cannot fly inside a building
to take interior shots. In addition, extreme weather
conditions such as rain and strong winds can prevent their use. Speth: “Currently, our fire departments are not completely equipped with UAVs.
Because the systems are extremely complex, we
also do not expect this to be the case in the future.
However, it is quite possible that systems of more
than one UAV will be available at several sites
nationwide for use as special resources. In serious cases, the fire departments could then request
these as backup.”
measurement and analysis data can now be used
for additional research and development work, for
instance to find even better solutions for networking the various techniques for situation analysis.
Better and More Comprehensive Information
Through Remote Sensing
The fact that remote sensing is being used more
and more often, whether as a planning basis or as
an additional source of information during longlasting crisis situations, became clear during two
workshops organized by the BBK. The workshops
took place during the 2nd Remote Sensing Strategy
Forum and the 2012 GMES Theme Days on November 14 and 15 in Düsseldorf. GMES is the abbreviation for Global Environmental and Security
Monitoring, an earth observation program by the
European Commission that was recently launched
under the name “Copernicus.”
During the BBK workshop, participants discussed
the currently available earth observation options
from the air and from space. In addition, the
Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) presented the
Association for Remote-Sensing-Based Geoinfor-
36
TECHNOLOGIES FOR CIVIL PROTECTION 37
mation (VfG) project during the large-group event.
The VfG, which will act as a service provision
association for the federal government, will be
provided with permanently available products and
services from the Center for Satellite-Based Crisis
Information (ZKI) at the DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen.
Starting in 2013, the ZKI will deliver earth observation data from the BMI resources, particularly
for civil protection applications. The strengths of
this service include the rapid procurement, processing and analysis of satellite and aerial image data
during natural and environmental disasters, for
humanitarian aid activities and for civil protection
worldwide. The intent and purpose of the VfG is
to add further data and products to improve the
European emergency surveying service, and to
make the ZKI’s expertise available for supporting
official tasks. The national need for this service is
great, including in police departments. The advantage of this project comes from accessing remotesensing-based geo-information and analyzing it
using intelligent and innovative methods. For
official agencies, and especially for civil protection,
this means receiving a much faster overview of the
respective situation for an incident. The BBK played
an important role in these developments. It has
been repeatedly shown that viewing the same map
can significantly help improve the discussion and
decision-making process. In addition, the same
map, when it is used across various agencies, can
improve the shared understanding of the situation
in order to better coordinate measures.
Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW)
THW Uses Satelitte Images to Plan
the Construction of Refugee Camps
(Top) September 2012 “On behalf of the THW, the European COPERNICUS Emergency Managment Service created a current reference
map of the el Za’atri refugee camp in Jordan. Here we can see the camp’s expansion as of late November 2012.
(Bottom) November 2012 The same section of the reference map of the el Za’atri refugee camp in Jordan.
2012 Annual Report
One example of how helpful satellite images can
be is shown by the work of the Federal Agency for
Technical Relief (THW) in Jordan. The THW has
been active there since April 2012, at the request
of the Foreign Office and on behalf of the Federal
Ministry of the Interior. For instance, the THW
works with the German Embassy to support the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
and the United Nations Children’s Fund in the Syrian refugee camp near el Za’atari. Satellite image
analysis is very helpful here, as THW project manager Werner Stern reports. “It is essential for us to
regularly analyze satellite images. This is an important tool that we can use to plan the infrastruc-
ture measures for the UN organizations down to
the last detail. More than 80,000 people are now
living in the refugee camp in Jordan, so it is very
important to plan a detailed network for water
supply and drainage as well as for draining rainwater, using satellite images. Where will we build
the sanitation facilities, or “wash centers”? Where
does it make sense to set up the kitchen modules?
These are the questions we are facing, since it is
essentially a small town. The satellite images provided by the EU Monitoring and Information Centre help us organize this miniature city properly,”
says Werner Stern.
38
39
New Structure: Modular,
Powerful, Mobile
Additional Medical Task Force Vehicles Are Given by the Federal
Government to the States
Windowpanes shatter and dishes crash down
from the shelves as brick missiles rain down
from buildings all over the Rhine region. A 5.9
earthquake, set off by an earthquake in the
Dutch town of Roermond, swept the area in
1992 and caused numerous injuries in North
Rhine-Westphalia as well.
treatment area for up to 50 injured people for a
period of up to 48 hours. 61 MTF units are being
set up throughout Germany. The Medical Task
Force was created by the federal government to
manage a large number of injured people (major
accident) during civil protection incidents and
disaster assistance. The federal government is
pursuing a modified strategy for providing
medical care to the population in the event of an
emergency. Previously,
it supplemented disaster
protection in the states
with individual vehicles to
reinforce their paramedic
services. In the future,
however, the new concept
calls for setting up entire civil protection units
that can also support the states’ disaster protection with special forces. In general, it is the
federal government’s responsibility to protect
the civilian population in the case of a state of
defense. Disaster protection, on the other hand,
is the responsibility of the states.
“We are not the everyday emergency
service; we are used for incidents that
are in motion.”
Holger Schmidt, Higher Executive Officer at the BBK
“Incidents like this one, which can cause injuries
even days after the actual disaster due to potential aftershocks, are occasions for the MTF to
provide national disaster relief,” says Holger
Schmidt, Higher Executive Officer at the BBK.
Medical Task Force Is a New Civil Protection
Concept from the Federal Government
MTF stands for Medical Task Force, and it was
called into being as part of the federal government’s new concept for protecting the population. The ultramodern medical incident group
consists of more than 100 assistants (paramedics, doctors and firefighters) as well as 20 vehicles, and it is used for civil protection incidents
and nationwide disaster assistance. It consists of
individual components and is able to decontaminate injured people, provide them with medical
attention and transport them. Among other
things, the MTF is able to set up and operate a
Standardized Equipment for Nationwide Use
The Medical Task Force is not primarily intended
for initial use on site, but to provide regional
assistance. “We are not the everyday emergency
service,” explains Holger Schmidt, “We are used
for incidents that are in motion. Flooding and
earthquakes, for instance, are dynamic. The
situation can change on a daily basis. Even days
later, there can still be injured people, just like in
the Roermond earthquake.” Especially during
these kinds of incidents, the existing communication, supply and traffic structures may have
2012 Annual Report
The high-quality equipment in the emergency medical equipment car allows immediate, independent care to be provided for injured persons.
only limited functionality or may fail altogether.
In particular, that includes phone networks,
internet connections, power and water lines as
well as traffic routes. The Medical Task Force
supports the incident forces on site or even
replaces them. The MTF assistants can work
without power, internet or phones because they
have their own generators; their documentation
is paper-based, and they have radios. Schmidt:
“The MTF has standardized equipment, and is
used in civil protection cases as well as for
incidents classified as supply level 4. These are
unusual threats and damage situations established jointly by the federal government and
the state.”
Pilot Sites Play an Active Creative Role
In order to explore the interactions between
equipment and vehicles on the one hand and
qualified assistants on the other, two MTF pilot
sites were set up in 2010 with Hesse and Rhineland Palatinate. These two states were chosen in
part because the pilot sites had state fire academies and disaster protection schools. The goal
of the BBK is to develop detailed concepts for the
MTF that integrate the collected knowledge of
all the relief agencies. In addition to the volunteer fire departments and municipal fire departments, that also includes the Workers’ Samaritan Federation (ASB), the German Red Cross
(DRK), the Malteser Hilfsdienst (MHD), the
Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe (JUH) and the German
Lifesaving Association (DLRG) as well as the
Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW). The
individual units, namely management, patient
transport and treatment (Kassel) as well as
patient decontamination and logistics (Rhineland Palatinate) are investigated and assessed
after the development work, by way of exercises.
“Hesse is setting up the MTFs in various cities.
For instance, MTF 34 is in the city as well as the
district of Kassel. Additional MTFs are located in
Gießen/Fulda, Frankfurt and Darmstadt,”
explains Holger Schmidt. In contrast, Rhineland
Palatinate is setting up its MTFs in widely spaced
administrative districts. These different
approaches allow us to easily compare the
advantages and disadvantages of both models.
The staff for the pilot sites is provided by all of
the local relief agencies as well as fire departments, while the federal government is responsible for the material equipment. Because all of the
40
41
detailed concepts for the partial units in Kassel
have already been completed, the pilot site was
closed at the end of 2012. In Rhineland Palatinate, on the other hand, the development will
continue in 2013. Overall, the working groups at
the Kassel city/region site performed about 1,700
hours of volunteer work; in Rhineland Palatinate, the total was about 750. The additional
working group “Doctors in the MTF” performed
more than 300 hours of work. The BBK would
like to expressly thank all of the dedicated
volunteer assistants for their energetic work!
tional time frame between disaster medicine
and personal medical care during a disaster.
“Our intent was to use the exercises to test the
development work performed in Kassel and
Rhineland Palatinate. That allowed us to determine whether the findings could also be transferred to other MTFs. Looking back, the exercise
was a great success, and it turned out just as we
had hoped. During the exercise, I was especially
impressed by the dedication of the voluntary
assistants,” reports Rolf Obladen, a project
participant and head of the exercise team.
Results Checked Using a Command
Post Exercise
GW San is the Heart of the MTF
One of the MTF’s technical modules is the
“Treatment” unit. The detailed concept for this
unit was completed at the Kassel site this year.
The theoretical results were reviewed during a
two-day command post exercise in September,
attended by many incident forces from the relief
agencies as well as the fire department. The goal
was to determine whether the developed concepts could be used to shorten the organiza-
Before the control post exercises, BBK President
Christoph Unger and Norbert Seitz, the Department Head of Crisis Management and Civil
Protection in the Ministry of the Interior,
symbolically handed over the keys to seven new
sanitation equipment cars (GW San) to Werner
Koch, State Secretary in the Hesse Ministry of
the Interior and for Sports.
The sanitation equipment car is the heart of the
Medical Task Force. It forms the core of the
“Treatment” unit. Each of these units in the 61
MTFs nationwide is slated to receive seven GW
Sans. “There are a total of 450 GW Sans to be
delivered in Germany. In 2012, 21 vehicles were
sent out to three federal states – to Hesse and
Rhineland Palatinate as pilot sites, and to
Bavaria. In addition to the GW San, patient
transport vehicles as well as commando and
are not yet finished,” explains Klaus Albert,
Higher Executive Officer at the BBK. The contents of the training are closely coordinated by
the state agencies responsible for disaster protection, the relief agencies and the fire departments.
The findings from the pilot sites are taken into
account along with the individual agencies’
experiences in terms of training the incident
staff. For instance, one requirement for completing MTF training
is membership in a relief
agency. This agency must
be committed to participating in disaster protection,
and it must be assigned an
MTF. Such agencies include
the Workers’ Samaritan
Federation (ASB), the
German Lifesaving Association (DLRG), the German
Red Cross (DRK), the Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe
(JUH), and the Malteser Hilfsdienst (MHD).
Albert: “Basic MTF training goes well beyond a
first aid course. It allows every graduate to act in
a targeted way in any emergency situation. At
the same time, the supplementary training
measures for the MTF build on the training
already completed by the assistants in the relief
agencies and the states’ disaster protection
units.”
“During the exercise, I was especially impressed by the dedication
of the voluntary assistants.”
Rolf Obladen, a project participant and head of the exercise team
personnel carriers were delivered for the MTFs,”
says Holger Schmidt. High-quality medical
devices and a six-person team make it possible
to use the GW San for incidents all year round,
regardless of season. It can provide immediate,
independent care for seriously injured persons
without any additional equipment. This independent action can save lives, especially in cases
where people cannot immediately be transported to a hospital due to a damage incident
classified as supply level 4.
“Basic MTF training goes well beyond a
first-aid course”
Symbolic key ceremony for the new sanitation equipment cars in Hesse. l to r: BBK President Christoph Unger; Department Head for Crisis
Management and Civil Protection at BMI, Norbert Seitz; State Secretary at the Hesse Ministry of the Interior and for Sports, Werner Koch.
2012 Annual Report
People who want to work as emergency medical
technicians, for instance, on a GW San team
receive special training, financed in part by the
federal government. Each member of the MTF
completes the same basic training, regardless of
whether he or she is a doctor, train conductor or
voice radio operator. The contents of this basic
MTF training can also be integrated into the
relief agency’s disaster protection training.
“Our current challenge is to create a completely
new training concept specifically tailored to the
MTF, even though the actual development of the
Medical Task Force and the technical equipment
Primarily responsible for
the activities of the MTF:
Without the dedicated
work of the aid organizations / fire departments,
it would be impossible
to ensure effective MTF
for civil protection and
disaster assistance.
42
Vehicles
Deliveries of LF-KatS by the Federal
Governement Nearly Complete
concept for the LF-KatS, the standards committee
has now also developed and published a corresponding standard for a firefighting group vehicle
for disaster protection.
BBK President Unger and DFV President Kröger during the
presentation of the LF-KatS at RettMobil 2010.
Protective breathing devices in the team quarters,
a pump installed in the vehicle with a capacity of
2,000 liters/min, a portable pump, more than 600
meters of hose material and a water tank with a
capacity of 1,000 liters are just a few of the factors
in favor of the new high-performance firefighting group vehicle for disaster protection, LF-KatS
for short. The new vehicle is fulfilling the federal
government’s commitment to civil protection,
while reinforcing disaster protection at the state
level. The LF-KatS is part of the federal government’s equipment concept for disaster protection,
which was passed by the Standing Conference
of the Federal Interior Ministers and State Senators in 2007 as part of the “New Strategy for Civil
Protection in Germany.” The BBK is responsible
for the design and delivery of the current vehicles.
The tasks of the LS-KatS include fighting fires,
supplying water – including over longer distances
– and providing simple technical help on a smaller
scale. The federal government and the states have
agreed to cover the “fire protection” area using
two types of vehicles: the LF-KatS and a hose reel
for disaster protection (SW-KatS). Overall, the federal government is financing 961 firefighting group
vehicles and 450 hose reels. Based on the federal
Remaining lF-KatS Distribured to the States
in 2013
After a Europe-wide call for tenders, Josef Lentner GmbH was contracted in December 2008 to
deliver up to 190 LF-KatS to the federal government. This took place between 2010 and 2012. To
date, a total of 185 of the 190 vehicles have been
allocated by the BBK to the states. The following
states received the LF-KatS in the last few years:
LF-KatS
State
2010
Baden-Württemberg
2011
64
Bavaria
Bremen
Hamburg
7
42
106
14
14
3
10
25
25
Hesse
Rhineland-Palatinate
5
Saarland
Total
2012 Summe
25
1
1
17
22
4
3
7
80
80
185
Rev.: 12/31/2012
The remaining five LF-KatS are expected to be
delivered to the states in early 2013. This will conclude the BBK’s procurement measure with 190
firefighting group vehicles for disaster protection,
with a procurement volume of 45.6 million euros.
2012 Annual Report
A Focus on
People
44
A FOCUS ON PEOPLE
45
Quality Standards for the
Crisis Hotline
Psychosocial Conversation Guidelines Developed for Working with the
Crisis Hotline
Whenever a disaster or a serious accident occurs,
we now understand the importance of setting
up a crisis hotline. Both directly and indirectly
affected parties need reliable information right
away: What exactly happened? How does the
situation look on site? Is my family affected?
In order to provide qualified support to citizens
who are harmed in other countries by terrorist
attacks or serious accidents, the BBK’s coordination office for Follow-up Care, Victim and
Family Assistance (NOAH) features a 24-hour
hotline.
NOAH has now been in place for ten years and
is very experienced in the area of crisis hotline
work. About 20 incidents of various types and
sizes are handled here each year. These form
the basis for the psychosocial hotline guideline,
which was created in 2013 as preparation for
working as a hotline operator in the event of a
crisis or disaster. An experiential analysis of
crisis hotlines, which were recently used after
tragic events such as the rampages in Erfurt
(2002) and Winnenden (2009), the ice rink
collapse in Bad Reichenhall (2006) and the mass
panic at the Loveparade (2010), also served as a
The NOAH Crisis Hotline Team (l 2 r: Volker Harks, Annika Fritsche, Verena Blank-Gorki, Rike Richwin, Kerstin Fröschke,
Mark Overhagen, Dr. Jutta Helmerichs (Head of NOAH), Claudia Schedlich, Thomas Knoch, Michael Prell, Tobias Hahn).
basis for the guideline. It also included findings
from scientific evaluations commissioned by
the BBK.
tant thing is clearly understanding the needs
and reactions of the affected parties. That is
what the BBK’s psychosocial hotline guideline
prepares people to do.”
“You need more than just a good feeling”
In addition to reports and concepts, the psychosocial hotline guideline also includes useful
communication rules as well as techniques and
tips for listening, asking questions and formulating statements. Furthermore, the typical caller
groups and most common issues are presented
along with the needs and responses of affected
parties. It also includes stress management
strategies for workers to remain capable of
action while staffing the hotline.
“Quality counts,” emphasizes Dr. Jutta Helmerichs, Head of NOAH at the BBK. “In order to
work at a crisis hotline, you need more than just
a gut feeling. The work is complex. The impor-
The NOAH Hotline during an assignment.
2012 Annual Report
All Hotlines Are Not Created Equal
Still, not every hotline is created equal: numerous factors play a role in how the corresponding
hotline is designed – including the type of
incident, when the hotline is set up after the
start of the crisis, the available rooms and the
public presentation. The callers’ inquiries can
also be very different depending on the type and
scope of the accident. The psychosocial guideline can be requested at www.bbk.bund.de.
46
A FOCUS ON PEOPLE
47
Urgently Needed: Assistants
for Voluntary Work
BBK Develops Short Studies with the States and Supports the
“Augsburger Puppenkiste” [Augsburg Puppet Theater] Project
“The sometimes ultramodern technology, which
many people do not normally encounter in their
professional lives, is one aspect. It is also possible
to take on a leadership role in order to gain
further skills for your actual profession. The
most important thing, though, is the idea of
working as a team to help others.” Alexander
Krapf, Higher Executive Officer at the BBK, is
familiar with the draw of volunteering for civil
protection. Still, there is an increasing shortage
of voluntary assistants in Germany. Some of the
reasons include declining birth rates as part of
the demographic change, as well as the elimination of compulsory service. In addition, many
people need to be mobile for their training,
studies and careers, and they have little time left
over for volunteer duties at home. Krapf: “Our
entire relief system is based on voluntary
service. It would not work without our dedicated
assistants in civil and disaster protection. The
BBK is therefore very motivated to promote
voluntary service in general, because civil
protection would not exist in Germany if it were
not for the population’s active commitment.”
The BBK Short Studies on Voluntary Service
Focus on the Following Areas: Women,
Migrants and Seniors
The BBK is fulfilling its legal obligation – to
support voluntary service as a basis for civil and
disaster protection – in close collaboration with
the states and with civil and disaster protection
agencies. For instance, this year it developed various short studies as an offering for the states
and organizations, which also include specific
recommendations for action. One of the studies,
for example, focuses on how the demographic
change will fundamentally affect voluntary
service in the area of civil protection, and which
recommendations for action have already been
made / what kind of research has already been
done on this issue. Christian Herrmann, Higher
Executive Officer at the BBK, reports on the
results of the study: “If you analyze the development of the population, there are three groups
moving more and more into the foreground:
women, migrants and seniors. Thus we need to
address these groups in a targeted manner with
regard to voluntary commitment.”
According to the short study, today’s “young old
people” can do much more, for instance in staff
or trainer roles. According to another study
specifically focusing on women as a target group
for voluntary commitment in civil and disaster
protection, it is essential to help women take on
leading and management roles in the organizations. In places where decisions are made, they
have been significantly underrepresented to
date. Given the context of the demographic
change and the increasing share of migrants in
the population, it is also desirable to involve
volunteers with migrant backgrounds in the
civil and disaster protection agencies. The
successful integration of migrants would not
only help the assistance capacity for various
population groups, but would also help give the
migrants living among us a responsible position
in our society. This conclusion was drawn by an
additional BBK study.
(Top) Minister of the Interior Dr. Hans-Peter Friedrich, Puppet Theater Head Klaus Marschall and kindergartners from Augsburg
introduce the heroes of the new movie to the public. (Bottom) Helping one another and being there for each other is important!
That’s the message of the film “Rettet die Retter – Abenteuereinsatz im Land der Helfer”.
2012 Annual Report
48
A FOCUS ON PEOPLE
The BBK will continue its research activities in
2013, among other things with an empirical
survey.
The “Augsburger Puppenkiste” Project to Help
Interest Preschool-Age Children in Voluntary
Service
A specific example from real life of how the BBK
supports voluntary service can be seen in the
“Augsburger Puppenkiste” project. Together
with the Federal Ministry of the Interior and
on the initiative of the now-dissolved Standing
Conference for Disaster Preparation, the BBK is
currently providing expert support for a nationwide film project. The project is intended to
attract the next generation to voluntary service
in the area of civil protection. “There are hardly
any other offerings for preschool-age children
available. We want to awaken their interest in
volunteering for civil and disaster protection as
early as possible,” says Christian Dolf, Head of
the BBK Unit for Voluntary Service. A short film
with specially developed, lively and imaginative
figures from the Augsburger Puppenkiste, a
famous puppet show, will be shown in kindergartens and preschools to help encourage a
culture of helping others. Parents, grandparents,
older siblings and teachers will also hear the
message that the population needs to be aware
of this important issue, and will become sensitized to it. “The film explains to children that
help doesn’t come automatically in an emergency – the relief system in Germany largely
depends on voluntary assistants,” explains
Christian Dolf.
Helping Hand” sponsorship prize. Federal
Minister of the Interior Dr. Hans-Peter Friedrich
honored the prizewinners on November 30,
in the Bavarian State representative office in
Berlin, for concepts and projects that awaken
people’s interest in making a voluntary commitment to civil protection. In addition, a “people’s
choice” award was once again granted this year.
Nearly 12,000 people voted online and selected
the winning project. The prize is a total of 30,000
euros and recognizes members of organizations
who are committed to special concepts, projects
and campaigns to promote voluntary work in
the area of civil protection. These organizations
include the Workers’ Samaritan Federation, the
German Lifesaving Association, the German
Red Cross, Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe, the Malteser
Hilfsdienst, the Federal Agency for Technical
Relief, the voluntary fire departments and
governmental units. The latter are civil and
disaster protection units that are created by the
district and municipal disaster protection
agencies themselves.
General
“Helping Hand” Sponsorship Prize Recognizes
Commitment by Voluntary Workers
Voluntary assistants are extremely dedicated to
the cause, and give up their free time to help
other people. This commitment was honored
once again this year in the form of the “2012
Short film: The “Augsburger Puppenkiste” for preschool-age
children, on the topic of volunteering for civil and disaster
protection. A joint project from the Federal Ministry of the
Interior and BBK.
2012 Annual Report
50
GENERAL
51
A Window to the Outside:
Press and Publicity, 2012
Active Press Releases from the BBK Offer More High-Quality Information
for Various Target Groups
January
Using computer software CT-Analyst, developed
jointly by the University of Hamburg, the Office
of the Interior and Sports for Hamburg and the
Naval Research Laboratory in Washington,
D.C., Hamburg-based agencies can now respond
more quickly to accidents involving poison-gas
emissions. The program calculates precisely
where the hazardous cloud will drift and when
– extremely important information for incident
forces. During an event in late January, BBK
President Christoph Unger will present the new
software to the Office of the Interior and Sports
and introduce it to the press and the technical
public. The project was financed by the BBK and
by the citizens of Hamburg.
February
The BBK and the Stiftung Jugend und Bildung
[Foundation for Youth and Education] are
putting on a teachers’ workshop for the new
children’s website www.max-und-flocke-helferland.de at the didacta 2012 fair in Hanover.
Since September 2011, the prize-winning web
portal for 7 to 12-year-olds has focused on
proper behavior in dangerous situations – not
with a wagging finger, but step by step through
games. The central questions at the didacta
workshop are: How can the issue of “proper
behavior in dangerous situations” be communicated at elementary schools, and how can the
worksheets developed specifically for “Max und
Flocke Helferland” best be used in classes?
March
Press conference at the AKNZ: Because a major
accident largely depends on the training of its
medical forces, the AKNZ is using simulation
systems in its disaster medicine seminars. The
February: Very popular with children – a coloring book
featuring the heroes from the BBK children’s web page www.
max-und-flocke-helferland.de. In 2012, the BBK worked with
the Stiftung Jugend und Bildung to put on a teacher’s workshop
about the prize-winning web portal for 7 to 12-year-olds at the
“didacta” fair in Hanover.
April: There was strong media interest at a press conference
with a practical demonstration carried out by the BBK, with
support from the ATFs from Dortmund, Cologne, Hamburg,
Munich and Mannheim. They presented the functions and
equipment of the Analytical Task Force.
BBK academy trains various groups of people
by simulating a major accident. That includes
(head) emergency doctors as well as the heads
of firefighting and relief agencies that perform
management tasks in the area of rescue and
emergency medical services. For several months,
the systems for simulating a major accident will
also be made available to teachers at state fire
academies and the relief organization schools
for their training programs. The systems will be
presented to media representatives during the
first training session.
May
The new sanitation equipment car (GW San)
for the Medical Task Force (MTF) will be presented in early May at the RETTmobilTrade Fair
in Fulda. It forms the core of the “Treatment”
unit. Each of these units in the 61 MTFs nationwide will receive seven GW Sans. The MTF was
created as part of the federal government’s new
concept for civil protection. (More information
on this can be found on pages 38-41).
June
April
Comparing, identifying and representing in
color – SIGIS 2, the remote sensing system from
the Analytical Task Force (ATF) can do all of
this for a cloud of hazardous materials. The ATF
is a special mobile unit from the federal government, used for the chemical analysis of hazardous materials. At a press conference in April,
the BBK – supported by the ATFs from Dortmund, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich and Mannheim – used a practical demonstration to
explain its functions and equipment. The
experts also presented analytical procedures.
2012 Annual Report
The BBK looks back at an eventful year in the
Altes Stadthaus in Berlin. Ralph Tiesler, Vice
President of the BBK, and Dr. Klaus-Georg
Meyer-Teschendorf, Head if Division for Civil
Protection in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, speak about the effects of climate change
on civil protection, the population’s ability to
help itself, and the results of LÜKEX, the
national crisis-management exercise. In addition to the BBK Annual Report “We are investing
in the future,” the children’s insert “Civil protection for young and old” is also presented. In front
of the Altes Stadthaus, children will have the
52
GENERAL
opportunity to answer a first-aid quiz and to win
great prizes from “Max und Flocke Helferland.”
July
The Federal Institution for Agriculture and
Nutrition and the BBK publish a joint study on
supply security for foods. The study investigated
the risks and framework conditions of the food
sector as well as aspects of risk and crisis management. The study appeared as Volume 9 of
the BBK “Wissenschaftsforum” (Science Forum)
journal series. The results showed that the
complex manufacturing and logistics procedures for foods require functional infrastructures. Highly technical companies are strong,
but also vulnerable. This also applies to the food
supply. Unusual biological threat situations that
endanger food safety, public health and internal
security will be the subject of the LÜKEX 2013
exercise.
August
Big anniversary celebration: The development
association of the Christoph 7 Air Rescue Center
in Kassel celebrated its first ten years with a
party at the Kassel Exhibition Hall. Many
interested visitors took the opportunity to learn
about the work of the orange rescuers stationed
at the Red Cross hospital in Kassel. The BBK was
also represented with a booth at the fair, provid-
53
ing information about the government’s own
civil protection helicopters (ZSH), the Medical
Task Force and the tasks of the BBK, among
other things. For younger visitors, BBK employees presented the web-based children’s program
“Max und Flocke.” The federal government
provides 16 civil protection helicopters at 12
air rescue centers throughout Germany. The
orange civil protection helicopters are part of
the equipment that the federal government
provides to the states for disasters and civil
protection cases. The Christoph 7 Air Rescue
Center has a very active development association, which uses its donations to directly and
specifically support the work of the “rescuers
from the sky” in this region. The association’s
members include 25 fire departments and 15
relief agencies.
September
Together with the Ministry of the Interior and
Municipal Affairs for the State of North RhineWestphalia and the Cologne municipal fire
department, the BBK presented the development
of the federal and state modular warning system
(MoWaS) during a press conference. MoWaS was
presented to media representatives at the Kalkar
Civil Protection Liaison Office, and introduced
using a practical demonstration. Along with
radio and television, the new system will help
warn the population via smoke alarms, mobile
December: The research findings from the GRASB project, launched in 2009, are presented to the public in Bonn. In this project, the
BBK and its partners worked with network operators to develop tools that can be used to document and reduce energy-supply risks. phones and the Internet. By the end of 2013, all
of the states will be equipped with the new
system in at least two locations. The costs will be
borne by the federal government.
October
During a press conference, the BBK, the Federal
Institute for Construction, City and Spatial
Research (BBSR), the German Weather Service
(DWD), the Federal Agency for Technical Relief
(THW) and the Federal Environmental Agency
(UBA) presented selected results from a joint
research project. The study investigates extreme
weather events resulting from global warming.
The conclusion: In particular, the weather
phenomena with the largest threat and damage
potential will increase by 2100. According to
the experts’ calculations, the number of summer
days reaching at least 25 degrees Celsius will
double by this time. BBK President Christoph
Unger emphasizes that the people in Germany
are not yet sufficiently prepared for extreme
weather conditions. Therefore, the BBK plans
to work with its partners to better prepare
Germany for extreme events. Immediately
before the press conference, representatives of
the involved agencies signed an updated agreement regarding their further cooperation in the
alliance of agencies, which has included the
BBSR since 2012.
November
September: During a press conference in the BBK’s Civil
Protection Liaison office at the NATO Combined Air Operations
Center in Kalkar (Lower Rhine), the previous results of the
MoWaS project were presented to the public. Eight BBK
employees have been working here since 2006.
October: Extreme weather conditions, such as the unusually
heavy snowfall in Münsterland in 2005, caught people completely off guard. During that time, 250,000 Münsterland residents
had to get by without power for days. As part of an alliance of
public agencies, the BBK will work with its partners to help
Germany be better prepared for extreme events.
2012 Annual Report
The BBK also brings the topic “Effects of
extreme weather conditions” onto the international level. Experts from Germany’s neighboring states accepted the BBK’s invitation, and
they talked with the BBK employees about how
to improve international communications
between Germany and its neighbors. The
starting point of the discussion: Disasters can
result not just from technical causes, but can
also be the result of extreme weather caused by
climate change.
December
The project “Scenario-oriented principles and
innovative methods for reducing the risk of
failure in the power supply, with consideration
for the effects on the population,” GRASB for
short, aims to reduce the risk of a long-term,
large-scale power failure. The BBK and its
partners have worked with network operators
to develop tools that can be used to document
and reduce the risks in the power supply. That
will prevent failures from occurring in the first
place, or at least reduce their scope. The research
results of the project, launched in 2009, are
presented to the public in Bonn. A special
highlight of the event is a panel discussion that
includes Marc Elsberg, author of the best-selling
book “Blackout.” The BBK’s partners for GRASB:
TÜV Rheinland Consulting Gmbh (TRC), Fachhochschule Köln (FH Köln), Wölfel Beratende
Ingenieure (WBI) and others.
54
GENERAL
55
Brochures and Flyers, 2012
Civil Protection in
Practice, Handbook
Volume 9
“Incident Management
for Road Tunnels – Recommendations for
Operational and Incident
Services”
To date, there have not
been any serious incidents, i.e. fire disasters, in road
tunnels in Germany. The incident management
manual is intended to support the measures laid out
in the guidelines for equipping and operating road
tunnels (RABT), and to give recommendations for
the various phases of risk and crisis management.
Civil Protection in
Practice, Handbook
Volume 10
“Hotline in the Event of
a Crisis or Disaster:
Psychosocial Conversation Guideline”
The conversation guideline
and its suggestions serve as
orientation for a telephone conversation on the
hotline in the event of a crisis. Hotline employees
work with people who are worried, concerned or
desperate due to acute situational circumstances
– people whose everyday lives have temporarily
gone “off the tracks.” For the conversation, it should
be kept in mind that there is no single right
approach. Every person who works at a hotline will
weight certain aspects of a phone conversation
differently and will prefer different techniques.
WISSENSCHAFTSFORUM Series, Volume 9
“Protecting Critical
Infrastructures – A Study
of Supply Security for
Food”
When the expected food
supply is no longer
provided in the usual
manner or fails altogether, there may be longterm consequences for the state community,
including significant disruptions to public
safety. This constellation indicates critical
infrastructures. The state and food economy,
including the food trade, are part of these
critical infrastructures.
“Disaster Organization
Law – Principles of Legal
Organization for Disaster
Protection”
Volume 10 is dedicated to
the fundamental legal
questions of disaster
protection and disaster relief. The author’s legal
dissertation investigates which principles shape
the federal and state disaster organization laws
that apply in the event of a disaster. The legal
principles of decentralization, subordination,
cooperation and redundancy are developed
comprehensively here.
2012 Annual Report
“Protection Concepts for
Critical Infrastructures in
Civil Protection –Goals,
Target Groups, Components and Implementation in the BBK”
Critical infrastructures
form the basis for the functionality of modern
societies. If they are damaged, this can cause a
loss of life, harm to people’s physical and mental
health, damages to the economic system, harm
to public order and environmental damage. The
responsibility for the safe operation of critical
infrastructures lies with their private and public
operators. The state is responsible for guaranteeing these, and creates framework conditions to
ensure the protection of critical infrastructures.
Flyer – Achievement
potential for civil
protection,
“Training at the Federal
Office of Civil Protection
and Disaster Assistance
(BBK)”
A diverse range of tasks
and good working
conditions make the BBK attractive for recent
graduates. Relatively small organizational units
require teamwork, and trainees are integrated
into the operational processes.
potential for civil
protection,
“Recommendations for
Dealing with Traumatic
Events”
Unusually traumatic
events such as accidents,
acts of violence and
disasters temporarily cause strong reactions and
emotions in many people. Eyewitnesses and
assistants can also be affected. This flyer provides information that can be important and
helpful in this situation. Languages: German,
English, French, Portuguese, Spanish.
potential for civil
protection,
“The Federal Medical
Task Force – MTF”
Based on the new federal
and state strategy for civil
protection, the federal
government has developed a concept for the Medical Task Force (MTF). 61
of these MTF units will be established nationwide.
Story book, “Civil protection for Young and Old
with Max & Flocke”
Stories and puzzles
involving Max & Flocke,
our protagonists from the
children’s website www.
max-und-flocke-helferland.de, help increase the self-help skills of children
aged 7-12.
56
GENERAL
ALLGEMEINES 57
More Tasks,
Fewer Personnel
This will help make career and family even more
compatible. In order to ensure this, employees
from a wide variety of departments and with an
equally wide range of family backgrounds have
worked together to develop a new agreement on
objectives. This will be used as a basis to consistently improve the offerings for reconciling
career and family over the next few years.
Cutting Jobs Poses Great Challenges for BBK
The BBK expects to face additional job cuts in
the coming years. What makes this even more
difficult is that of the currently available positions (civil servants) and jobs (wage employees),
a total of 20 have been earmarked with budget
memos. These jobs will disappear as soon as an
employee leaves the position. “Our duties have
continued to increase, while the personnel
numbers are decreasing. The consequence is
that each person has more to handle. Particularly in light of the demographic change, this
development will probably be the greatest
challenge for the BBK in the future,” says Werner
Söntgen, Administrative Manager at the BBK.
In 2012, the BBK only had about 267 positions
and jobs left. By contrast, the original personnel
needs for the specialized agency had been set
at 367 positions and jobs for the budget year
of 2006. The previous and future development
of human resources for the agency is described
as follows:
“In order to deal with the personnel challenges,”
says Söntgen, “it is important to make the
processes even more streamlined and efficient.”
That is exactly what is now happening as part
of an organizational analysis, which is documenting, analyzing and evaluating the business
processes at the BBK. The BBK is making an
enormous effort to secure at least the current
level of personnel and to increase it for new
tasks in the future.
Career and Family to Be Made More Compatible
The BBK is particularly proud
that the agency’s certificate for
the “berufundfamilie” audit was
confirmed on 8/30/2012. Even
though a broad range of familyfriendly measures is already in place, the BBK
had decided in 2012 to undertake a re-audit.
2012 Annual Report
Financial Focus: Civil Protection Vehicles and
New AKNZ Construction
In the financial area, the BBK administration
primarily sees a challenge in ensuring budget
resources for the vehicle equipment concept for
civil protection. In addition, it is important to
provide the financial basis and construction
backing to build the necessary new cafeteria
and conference building at the BBK’s Academy
for Crisis Management, Emergency Planning
and Civil Protection (AKNZ). Compared to the
105 million euros in the 2011 budget year, the
BBK’s budget declined to 102.7 million euros in
2012. Once again, more than 50% of this year’s
budget resources were used for implementing
the federal equipment concept.
This concept focuses on specialized skills for
specific threat situations, such as handling a
major accident. To this end, the BBK is procuring
emergency medical equipment vehicles, team
transport vehicles and firefighting vehicles.
During times of peace, the states also use the
incident vehicles provided by the federal government for disaster protection. Of the budget
resources, the federal vehicles were also kept at
the respective sites in the states, and assistants
were trained in the area of disaster protection.
Additional tasks primarily fell to the AKNZ and
to the research department.
The total resources available to the BBK in the
2012 budget year were broken down as follows:
58
Legal Notice / Imprint
We are Growing with the Challenges
2012 Annual Report by the Federal Office of
Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK)
©T he Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance
(BBK), Provinzialstraße 93, 53127 Bonn
Concept and Design
Mike Communications, Cologne
Printing
medienHaus Plump GmbH, Rheinbreitbach
Copyright
The copyright for texts and images lies with the Federal Office of
Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) unless otherwise
indicated.
Image credits
Detlef Schieberle (Frontispiece), page 06 BMI/Hans-Joachim M.
Rickel; page 11 Klaus Leidorf/Corbis; page 12 Martin Spangenberg,
BBSR; page 15 Corinna Hölzer/pixelio.de; page 23 Bader-Butowski/
Westend61/Corbis; page 31 Matthias Kulka/Corbis; page 34
© Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; page 36
© Europäische Kommission, page 43 Dave Bartruff/Genesis Photos,
(415) 254-0180/Corbis; page 47 BMI/Hans-Joachim M. Rickel,
all remaining images are property of the BBK.
Revised /Circulation
April 2013 / 500
2012 Annual Report
www.bbk.bund.de

We Are Growing with the Challenges

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