Dead and devastation: flood tragedies raise questions - how reliably does Bavaria warn in the event of disasters?

The floods in Germany left a picture of devastation.

Critics now complain that people have received too little warning.

But how reliably do Bavaria's authorities warn in the event of a disaster?

Munich - Last week's floods in Germany were devastating.

Over 100 people lost their lives in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, and entire districts were swept away by the flash floods.

Flash floods also left an image of devastation in the Bavarian district of Berchtesgadener Land, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen * and in Passau.

Many people were surprised by the apocalyptic floods in their homes, and some could no longer save themselves.

The devastating proportions now raise the question of why the citizens in the affected regions were not warned more urgently *.

But how does the Free State of Bavaria alert in such a case and what are the problems?

Flood Disasters: Were People Warned Too Late?

The Free State of Bavaria relies on several pillars

In order to convey information to people before impending dangers, Bavaria falls back on several pillars.

These include the classic ways of radio warning and sirens.

The Ministry of the Interior in Munich informs about an advantage of the system when warnings are given by radio and television stations.

In particular, the sirens are intended to encourage people to find out more about the details from the media.

Since there is no longer a siren system in some areas, the fire brigade and police drive through the streets there and warn via loudspeakers.

There are also smartphone apps that sound the alarm in hazardous situations.

Disaster control in Germany: warning day showed problems - "failed"

The Nina app is operated by the federal government to provide information about disasters and other threatening events such as large fires with heavy smoke development. The Katwarn app from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft works in a similar way; the German Weather Service offers the Warnwetter app. One advantage of the mobile phone systems is that the deaf can also be warned by means of a vibration alarm. However, the classic warning signals such as sirens are not reliable. In the past year 2020, the “warning day” revealed many weaknesses. Due to technical problems, warnings were not transmitted or transmitted too late to the mobile phones. In some places people waited in vain for sirens to wail, sometimes because many sirens have long since been dismantled, for example in Munich. The Federal Ministry of the Interior described the test alarm as "failed".

Failure in Germany? There was no disaster warning - "Very difficult thing"

But could the people in the areas hit by the recent natural disasters have been warned earlier? The FDP parliamentary group deputy in the Bundestag, Michael Theurer, sees a "considerable system failure" in civil protection. But others are more cautious. The mayor of Simbach am Inn in Lower Bavaria, which was devastated by a flood five years ago, does not share the harsh criticism. "I do not think that the disaster control has failed," says town hall chief Klaus Schmid (CSU). "It is a very, very difficult thing to get the warnings up on time." Such storm-related floods come very quickly, Schmid points out. However, Simbach also wants to further improve the warning system and relies on the well-known siren.The devices applied for after the flood should now be available soon, says the mayor.