Germany is only partially prepared for an emergency

There are no longer any public shelters in Germany. Many bunkers have been sold, dismantled or serve as museums. This one belongs to the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe. And yet the visit down here is depressingly topical.

With the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, many have become aware that Germany also has some catching up to do when it comes to civil protection. Some changes are on the way, but that’s not enough for many domestic politicians.

“Scenarios that had not been considered possible for decades can suddenly no longer be ruled out,” says Alexander Throm, spokesman for domestic affairs for the Bundestag faction. “The federal government must now adapt all areas of civil protection to the new situation as quickly as possible.”

But how? If you want to know what civil protection is like, you first have to know an important difference. Disaster control, for example in the event of floods or pandemics, is a matter for the federal states. The protection of the population in the event of war, civil defense, on the other hand, is the task of the federal government.

Will the siren network be expanded?

During the Cold War there was a nationwide siren network. “Because later the danger of war was considered low, the sirens were handed over to the countries. They could either dismantle them or continue to operate them,” says Marianne Suntrup from the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK). Today only one siren is owned by the federal government. “It is in the foyer of the Federal Office and is there for viewing.”

An enlightening moment for many was the “warning day” in 2020, when a nationwide test alarm was to be used to practice dangerous situations such as storms or attacks. It was then noticed that there were no longer any sirens in many places in Germany, such as Berlin, and that the existing ones could not be controlled centrally.

A siren funding program worth almost 90 million euros was set up, with which the federal government supports the states and municipalities in purchasing and installing sirens. “These must then be so modern that they can be connected to the nationwide MoWaS warning system and also be triggered centrally in an emergency,” says Suntrup.

In the meantime, all federal states have called up money from the funding program. But the problem is that there is not enough money for a nationwide siren system in Germany. According to the BBK, 5,000 sirens can be funded with the money.

Berlin also wants to have some built again. The state has 4.5 million euros available from the funding program. “It is expected that up to 400 systems in the city area can be set up with the available funds,” says the Tagesspiegel request from the Senate Department for the Interior.

The CDU domestic politician Throm calls on the ruling traffic light coalition to set aside enough money in the budget “for all municipalities that want to modernize old sirens or buy new sirens”.

How does the warning system work?

The MoWaS system is the central platform in Germany for both disaster control and civil protection. It networks all control centers with each other. The various warning channels are also connected here: existing sirens, radio and television stations, apps such as the “emergency information and news app” Nina, display boards from Deutsche Bahn. For example, if there is a major fire near Berlin and toxic fumes are moving in a certain direction, the employee in the control center can select the channels through which the warning should be issued.

The BBK also has a nationwide warning center. For civil protection, they have two liaison officers at NATO who monitor the airspace around the clock. If a warning is triggered in the control center, a warning could be given nationwide via the existing channels.

Another channel will soon be added: so-called cell broadcasting. The introduction was decided after the flood disaster in 2021, when many people were not warned in time. This technology makes it possible for everyone who is in a specific radio cell to receive a warning on their mobile phone – regardless of whether they have installed a warning app or not.

“The warning then comes as a kind of push notification with text but also sound – even if the mobile phone is set to silent,” explains Marianne Suntrup from the BBK. The mobile phone providers should have made this possible by the beginning of 2023 at the latest.

What would you do in an emergency?

In 1961, the Federal Office for Civil Protection recommended in the brochure “Everyone has a chance” that in the event of a nuclear explosion, one should lie on the ground and hold the briefcase over one’s head.

Public shelters have been built or restored in urban centers since the mid-1960s. These included high and low bunkers as well as tunnel systems from the Second World War. In addition, there were newly built multi-purpose facilities – civil buildings such as train stations or multi-storey car parks that were equipped in such a way that they could have been used to protect the population in an emergency.

This also includes the system in the Berlin underground station Pankstraße, which can be visited with the association “Berliner Unterwelten”. Part of the protection concept was that two underground trains should enter the station, after which two lifting swing gates would have sealed the tunnel airtight. The people would have been let in via a personal dosing system. These hydraulic steel gates would have closed further and further as more people entered the facility – until capacity was reached.

Despite such sophisticated systems, Jochen Molitor, who researched civil defense during the Cold War, says: “Most people never really knew how to behave in the event of an air raid alarm.” informed of an approaching attack.

However, there were never enough shelters in the Federal Republic that one should have sought out. “Even at the height of the Cold War, there were shelter places for only about three percent of the population.”

Against the background of the armed conflict in Ukraine, Germany is unlikely to be exposed to an air attack. Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance

With the end of the Cold War, the security situation changed. Previously, there had been escalation levels and warning times, so there was time to prepare the shelters and get there. Today, experts are assuming a scenario without warning, according to the BBK. Therefore, shelters could not provide adequate protection.

In 2007 the decision was made to abolish the shelters. “After the end of the Cold War, it was assumed that armed conflicts on NATO territory were a thing of the past,” says Suntrup. Since then, the existing protective systems have been gradually phased out.

But with Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the bunkers have come back into focus. “It is unlikely that Germany will be exposed to an air attack against the background of the armed conflict in Ukraine,” the BBK website now reads.

Nevertheless, the authority gives tips: The existing buildings generally offer good protection, both from “flying objects” and from contamination with chemical or nuclear substances.

“In the event of an attack, it is best to go to an interior room with as few outer walls, doors and windows as possible: glass surfaces can shatter in explosions from the blast and cause injuries.” If you are not at home, but are traveling within a city, you should be Visit buildings with indoor spaces or underground parts of buildings such as subway stations.

Could the protective systems be reactivated at all?

The Federal Ministry of the Interior states that “the current dismantling concept for shelters” is being examined. For this purpose, the federal and state governments would make a complete inventory of the existing shelters. The CDU domestic politician Throm demands that it must be checked whether reactivation makes sense in view of the threat. Nothing can be ruled out.

But would that even make sense? Many bunkers are technically outdated and not in good condition. They could do nothing against modern weapon systems or nuclear weapons. “Shelters can help with ‘ordinary’ bombs, a collapsing house or a greater distance from the center of the explosion,” says expert Molitor.

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However, he considers the expansion of air raid shelters to be a very invasive measure that would cause great uncertainty among the population and would be rejected. “Nowadays, bunker construction would probably only be possible in a very reduced form, such as the expansion of cellars, subway stations – if at all.” Molitor considers other measures that could mean help in an emergency to be more important: first-aid courses or that Provision of food for a few days.

Regardless of the question of sirens and bunkers, domestic politicians are also of the opinion that civil defense must be promoted more. The Greens are calling for the BBK to be given significantly more resources.

Domestic spokesman Manuel Höferlin demands that civil defense must be modernized and better positioned. “Where it used to be about NBC protection for the population, for example, today – as can be seen with the war in Ukraine – it has long been about NBC protection – i.e. also the protection of digital things.”

This article first appeared in the Tagesspiegel.

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