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Rhineland-Palatinate: Kreuzberg district in the municipality of Altenahr on July 17, 2021
Photo: TORSTEN SILZ / AFP
After the flood disaster in the west of the republic, the FDP parliamentary group proposed a bundle of measures in a ten-point position paper to improve disaster control and the disbursement of emergency aid.
One of the demands: Based on the Technische Hilfswerk (THW), a so-called cyber aid organization is to be set up in order to maintain or restore internet connections in emergencies.
The FDP is modeled on the USA.
After the collapse of the local mobile communications infrastructure during hurricanes, civil groups emerged there in order to “create decentralized capacities for the faster rebuilding of connectivity after disasters,” according to the paper available to SPIEGEL.
Such teams from a cyber aid organization in Germany "could also help maintain or restore connectivity more quickly in the event of a disaster".
“The flood disaster is terrible, our condolences go out to the victims.
Politicians owe them swift and far-sighted action.
It's about providing aid as well as disaster control, climate adaptation and climate protection, "said FDP party and parliamentary group leader Christian Lindner to SPIEGEL.
Perception of risk in the population?
In the paper that was decided by the parliamentary group executive committee, the establishment of so-called cell broadcasting is required as part of a German warning system.
In the case of severe weather warnings in particular, risk perception is a problem among the population.
Using cell broadcasting, on the other hand, warning messages could be sent directly and continuously in the immediate run-up to a storm to all mobile phones in Germany, or precisely to a specific region, according to the paper.
As a further building block, the parliamentary group calls for the development and expansion of new warning technologies - such as the Nina app - to be promoted.
»In the event of a crisis, uniform, transparent and unambiguous communication of information via analog and digital media must be guaranteed by the responsible authorities.
Warning sirens that exist at the municipal level must be preserved and maintenance carried out on time «, according to the FDP.
The Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid (BBK) wants to develop the FDP into a central office for particularly serious accidents, cross-border and major disasters.
There is still a lack of a “continuous nationwide picture of the available forces and resources from the federal and state governments”.
The aim of the FDP is not to centralize the disaster control, but to restructure the relationship and responsibilities, it is expressly stated.
In certain transnational crisis situations, however, a coordinating role for the federal government could make sense.
According to the will of the FDP, reforms are to be clarified in the Federalism Commission.
The catalog also includes the call for faster help for affected people and regions.
"This is possible by changing the construction aid fund establishment law," it says.
When it comes to the necessary administrative agreement, the federal and state governments could orientate themselves on the agreements made in 2013, explained FDP boss Lindner.
For the financing of the aid, from the perspective of the FDP, the originally designated "asylum reserve"
known federal reserve available immediately.
No supplementary budget is necessary for their use.
"The reserve currently has a volume of 48.2 billion euros," says the paper.
When it comes to climate protection, the FDP is betting on expanding emissions trading, with the state setting a guaranteed limit for greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors, "but leaving it up to business to achieve this goal without further burdensome regulations."