Armin Schuster, President of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, admitted that there were errors in the system in connection with the flood disaster.
Berlin - In the aftermath of the flood catastrophe in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, the responsible authorities were criticized for having warned the population too late and insufficiently of the expected threats from the heavy rain.
The president of one of these authorities - the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) - admitted errors in the flood disaster on Thursday morning.
Flood disaster: BBK President Schuster speaks of errors in the system
Armin Schuster, who has been President of the BBK since November 2020, spoke of errors in the system in the ARD's morning magazine.
He couldn't pretend that was optimal: “It didn't go optimally,” explained the 60-year-old.
However, Schuster also pointed out that when it comes to warning, “an unbelievable number” would play a role in a reporting chain and also went into more detail on the role of the BBK in warning and reporting flood disasters.
“My office has a lot of know-how and little responsibility.
We only press the warning button in the event of war, ”emphasized Schuster with a view to the fact that the federal government is only responsible for civil protection in the event of a defense.
“Otherwise we make our system available to the federal states and municipalities and they use it.
That works too. "
Flood disaster: sirens and cell broadcasting as tools for the future
For the future, Schuster named an expansion of the existing systems of warning sirens, as well as the use of so-called cell broadcasting as probable steps to be able to further improve the efficiency of warnings.
“The siren, cell broadcast theme is guaranteed to have an impact in the next two or three years,” Schuster emphasized.
The BBK President noted that Federal Interior Minister Seehofer had already decided to introduce the warning via cell broadcasting.
With cell broadcasting, a message is sent to cell phone users in a similar way to an SMS - to all recipients who are currently in the radio cell in question.
(fd / dpa)