How quickly a blackout would lead the community, the region and the whole country into chaos, Sandra Kreitner impressively presented to the Hohenpeißenberg municipal council.
District fire inspector Ludwig Fernsemmer supported them in this.
Hohenpeißenberg - Suddenly the
lights go out, electrical devices no longer work, the landline telephone is dead, as is the Internet. After a few hours, the cell phone also says goodbye because the cellular network collapses. Traffic lights fail, underground and suburban trains stand still, trains no longer run, water and electricity supplies no longer work, fuel at the petrol stations is sold out. The emergency power generators are gradually saying goodbye. The hospitals can only maintain medical care as long as they have emergency power. After about a week, the health system collapses.
How quickly the whole country would sink into chaos in the event of a blackout, Sandra Kreitner described in a lecture she gave in the Hohenpeißenberg municipal council: "In the event of a blackout, the electricity in all of Europe can be gone within seconds," she said at the beginning of her lecture . The biophysicist with a PhD lives in Hohenpeißenberg and has been working intensively on the topic of "blackout" for a long time, gives lectures, has created a flyer and advises the district on how to prepare for an emergency. The lecture in the local council was also the start of the pilot project “Power failure in the community”, which is now running in Hohenpeißenberg.
A “blackout” is a supra-regional (Germany, parts of Europe or the entire continent are affected), long-term (days to weeks) failure of the power supply and infrastructure. "In such a case, the communities are on their own, help from outside cannot be expected," said Kreitner at the municipal council meeting. That is why it is important, as an individual, as a family, as a municipality and also as a district, to develop an emergency plan that can be used in an emergency, said the Hohenpeißenbergerin.
It is possible, if not probable, that this blackout emergency will occur at some point. “The probability cannot be calculated, but various authorities and experts assume that the risk will increase, some expect it to occur within the next five years,” writes Kreitner in her brochure “Blackout - Knowledge”, which she distributed to the local councils .
In the brochure, the scientist explains, among other things, how individuals can take precautions. It is advised to stock up on water and long-life food for at least a week. Other things that are important in the event of a blackout should also be available in every household as a precaution, such as a battery-operated radio, flashlights, a cooking facility that runs on coal or gas, heating and cash. The brochure also contains a list of measures that should be taken at the beginning of the blackout. It also lists how each individual can support the people in their community and thus their community in an emergency.
Following the lecture, Mayor Thomas Dorsch thanked the scientist: “Thank you very much, there is an incredible amount of work involved.” Hohenpeißenberg only recently learned from the hacker attack on the municipality that “an abstract danger can become very concrete. “A blackout is an important issue that is not even aware of the potential danger, said the mayor.
District fire inspector Ludwig Fernsemmer would be the aforementioned local head of operations in the event of major damage events and disasters.
He illustrated how the county is preparing for such an event as a blackout.
"We have already dealt with it in the district office and founded a working group." However, its work was slowed down by the corona pandemic.
This should be resumed as soon as possible.
"We see the preparations for such an event as a very big challenge," said Fernsemmer.
speech
On Thursday, September 23, Sandra Kreitner starts the lecture series on a blackout to inform the citizens of the district about the topic.
The lecture begins at 7 p.m. in the HOP in the new Schächen in Hohenpeißenberg.
