The disaster areas are being cleaned up - elsewhere political reappraisal begins.
Have concrete disaster warnings petered out?
Some think the debate is premature.
Berlin - After the devastating flood disaster, the debate about possible omissions and better early warning systems has picked up speed.
During her second visit to the flood areas, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) also put alternative warning instruments up for discussion.
“Maybe the good old siren is more useful than you thought,” said Merkel in Bad Münstereifel, which was badly damaged by the storm.
Now it will be analyzed exactly what has worked and what has not worked with disaster control and the early warning systems.
In the debate, however, the following should not be forgotten: "This is a flood that has not happened for a long, long time."
Laschet was also positive about the importance of alarm sirens.
For a long time these were neglected because it was thought that since there was no longer any danger of war, they were unnecessary, said the CDU leader and candidate for chancellor of the Union.
Now everyone is noticing "how vulnerable society is when suddenly electricity is no longer that".
Future warnings via SMS?
Previously, Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer demanded that those affected be warned by SMS in the future.
“I am in favor of us also allowing these push notifications to reach citizens via the mobile network providers.
But that always failed because the political will was lacking in some places, ”said the CSU politician in the“ Bild live ”political talk.
There are currently no nationwide warning SMS in Germany, in other countries such as the USA they are common.
FDP boss Christian Lindner also spoke out in favor of warnings via SMS.
“In the future, we will have to deal with many of the consequences of global climate change - and we must prepare for them.
This includes a low-threshold, digital early warning system, ”said Lindner to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
"With the cellular infrastructure, SMS warnings can be easily implemented on any cell phone in a hazardous area."
Warning apps are not enough
Last week, people in the affected areas were warned of thunderstorms, in part via warning apps such as Nina or Katwarn.
However, these systems are not sufficient, criticizes the Rhineland-Palatinate European parliamentarian Jutta Paulus (Greens).
These warning apps only reached ten percent of the population, said the politician of the German press agency.
Push services in the sense of the “EU Alert” directive of 2018 are necessary, with which all mobile phone users can be automatically reached with public warnings.
Sirens could then also reach those who do not have a smartphone.
Paulus called on the federal government to quickly implement the EU directive on civil protection in the event of a disaster.
“I cannot be told that it was inevitable that we would have nearly 200 deaths in this disaster,” Paul said.
“Push messages on smartphones are used very vigorously in other countries for public warnings.” In Germany, it had been neglected to impose the requirement on the mobile phone providers to set up such “cell broadcast” systems.
"What we also need is better coordination and interlinking," said the MEP.
The timely and geographically very precise warning from the European Flood Warning System (EFAS) had arrived in the districts and municipalities, but its full scope was not perceived.
Criticism of premature assignments of blame
In the meantime, politicians and associations warned against starting to come to terms too early or pointing out the blame.
It is now a matter of first analyzing the events surrounding the current flood disaster to see whether and where processes have not worked, said the CDU interior politician Mathias Middelberg of the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" (NOZ).
This applies above all to the level of the federal states, because they are primarily responsible for disaster control.
He expressly warned against premature assignments of blame or reform proposals.
The chairman of the Federal Armed Forces Association, André Wüstner, warned against starting the debate about the reappraisal too early.
The main thing now is to help the local people with all their might and "then to work out where the federal, state and local authorities can improve in civil protection," said Wüstner of the "Heilbronn Voice".
Recently, there was massive criticism of Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU), to whom the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid (BBK) is assigned.
Warnings from the meteorologists would have reached the local people too late.
Seehofer rejected this.
"I do not rule out that we have to improve one thing or the other." But the warning messages would have worked without any technical problem, said Seehofer.
Jung: "Crystal clear analysis" necessary
The federal states are responsible for disaster control in Germany.
The federal government has no direct responsibilities here.
In the event of natural disasters and particularly serious accidents, however, the federal states can, for example, request help from the Technical Relief Organization (THW) or the Federal Police.
The President of the German Association of Cities, Burkhard Jung, demanded in the newspapers of the Funke media group “a crystal clear analysis after the acute emergency aid” of what can be learned from the storm in the future. As an example, he cited “Consequences for future communication in extreme weather”. For example, the breakdown of landline and cellular networks made communication more difficult. dpa
