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Warnings Before the Ahr Flood

In mid-July 2021, a flood in the Ahr valley killed 134 people. Warnings had gone out days earlier. The European Flood Awareness System, EFAS, said its forecasts showed a “high” probability of flooding in the Rhine area as early as 9 and 10 July. From 10 to 14 July, it sent more than 25 warnings for parts of the Rhine and Meuse basins to the national authorities. A meteorologist of the German Weather Service said its models had captured the rainfall well days ahead, and that the first pre-warnings went out three days in advance. On the afternoon of 14 July, the state environment office forecast a level at the Ahr well above the previous record of 3.7 meters. Around 9:30 p.m., it named an expected level of almost seven meters. The municipality of Altenahr had asked the district early to raise the disaster alarm. The district first refused and pointed to data that still had to be checked. It declared the disaster only around 11 p.m. and ordered the evacuation of buildings within 50 meters of the river.

A survey by the University of Potsdam later asked 1,315 people affected by the floods. In Rhineland-Palatinate, 29 percent said they had received no warning at all. Of all respondents who had been warned, 85 percent had not expected very severe flooding. The researcher Annegret Thieken said: Ein großes Problem bestand darin, dass die Warnmeldungen das Ausmaß der Flut nicht ausreichend widerspiegelten. A major problem was that the warnings did not reflect the scale of the flood well enough.

Who Secures the Christmas Market

On 20 December 2024, an attacker used a vehicle to strike the Christmas market in Magdeburg. He killed six people and injured about 300 others, some seriously. A committee of inquiry of the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt examined the attack. In May 2026, ZDF reported on its final report. Die Lücke, die der Attentäter mit dem Fahrzeug nutzte, fiel bei der Kontrolle weder Polizei, Veranstalter noch der Stadt Magdeburg auf. Neither the police, nor the organizer, nor the city noticed the gap the attacker used. According to the report, the protection concept against vehicle attacks had been out of date. A ZDF reporter in Magdeburg said that responsibility had been pushed back and forth between the city, the organizer and the police. In November 2025, the next market was not approved for the time being, although setup had begun at the end of October. The state administration office had found defects in the organizer’s security concept, and the city had been instructed not to approve it. The organizer saw the police and the authorities as responsible. On 12 November, ZDF reported an agreement between the city, the state administration office and the police. Für die Umsetzung der vereinbarten Maßnahmen seien die Veranstalter und die Stadt Magdeburg verantwortlich. The organizers and the city of Magdeburg were to be responsible for carrying out the agreed measures.

The Permit for Rock am Ring

In June 2016, the festival Rock am Ring took place on the airfield at Mendig. On the Friday evening, lightning injured a total of 71 people, according to the Red Cross. The organizers interrupted the festival after a crisis meeting with the interior minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Roger Lewentz. Wir müssen alles dafür tun, dass keine neuen Verletzten hinzukommen, Lewentz said. We must do everything so that no more people are injured. Because another storm was expected for Sunday afternoon, the Verbandsgemeinde, the local association of municipalities, then withdrew the organizers’ permit to continue the festival. About 90,000 visitors had come. The concert promoter Marek Lieberberg spoke of höhere Gewalt, an act of God. He accused Lewentz of having pushed the responsibility for the cancellation onto the municipality. A spokesman for the interior ministry replied that Lewentz had already demanded that the event be stopped the day before.

Cash That Cannot Be Hacked

The Federal Office of Civil Protection, the BBK, advises people to have cash on hand: Denken Sie daran, Bargeld zur Verfügung zu haben, remember to have cash available. The reason it gives is that cash machines also stop working in a power cut. It names no amount. In July 2025, Bundesbank board member Burkhard Balz said in an interview that cash can be decisive in a crisis, so that people can keep paying. Cash is independent of electricity, networks and digital interfaces. Bargeld lässt sich nicht hacken, he said, cash cannot be hacked.

Minimum Numbers for Hospitals

For certain difficult operations, a German hospital must prove its experience in numbers. The Federal Joint Committee, the G-BA, sets Mindestmengen, minimum numbers. A hospital may perform such an operation in the next calendar year only if its case numbers make it likely that it will reach the minimum. In December 2020 the G-BA raised two of them, with effect from 1 January 2021. For operations on the esophagus, the minimum rose from 10 to 26 a year at each hospital site, after a transition period. Hospitals caring for premature and newborn babies under 1,250 grams must now care for at least 25 such children a year instead of 14. For kidney transplants, the minimum of 25 a year stayed in place. The G-BA cited the scientifically demonstrable link between the number of operations and their quality. Particularly difficult planned operations should take place only in hospitals that have enough experience with them. The expected gain was fewer complications and deaths.

A Pandemic Rehearsed in 2007

LÜKEX is short for Länder- und Ressortübergreifende Krisenmanagementübung, a crisis management exercise across federal states and ministries. The exercises run in a two-year cycle. On Wednesday, 7 November 2007, one of them played through a pandemic. In the scenario, 27 million people in Germany fell ill within eight weeks. 307,000 were treated in hospital, and 102,000 died. Seven federal states and about 3,000 people took part. Afterward, it was said internally that the crisis staff led by the interior and health ministries hat sich strukturell und organisatorisch uneingeschränkt bewährt, had proven itself fully in structure and organization. In fact, the exercise saw severe shortages of medicines, a breakdown of medical care in some districts, staff absences in hospitals and the police, and stalled communication between decision makers.

Thirteen years later, the real pandemic arrived.

Who Leads at a Fire

At a fire in Bavaria, the law names the person in charge before anyone arrives. Under Article 18 of the Bavarian Fire Brigade Act, the Einsatzleiter, the incident commander, is the commander of the local fire brigade. When the town’s professional fire brigade arrives, its leader takes over. When senior fire officers responsible for the area arrive, the highest-ranking of them may take over. The law also settles a tie. Bei gleichem Rang entscheidet die Zuständigkeit für den Schadensort. With equal rank, responsibility for the place of the incident decides. In a company with its own fire brigade, the head of that brigade leads. The incident commander’s power reaches beyond the fire brigade. He may call on people to help for up to three days, when this is absolutely necessary to avert a present danger to the public. He may also require owners to provide vehicles, water and other things needed to fight the fire.

The First Steps at a Dangerous Scene

German fire brigades and rescue services use the GAMS-Regel, a memory aid for the first measures at a dangerous incident.

Gefahr erkennen — recognize the hazard.

Absperren — cordon off the area.

Menschenrettung durchführen — rescue people.

Spezialkräfte nachfordern — call in specialist units.

The aim, says the medical encyclopedia DocCheck Flexikon, is not to endanger oneself, the team or others. To recognize the hazard, crews use a second scheme, called 4A-1C-4E. Its letters stand for Atemgifte (toxic gases), Angstreaktion (panic), Ausbreitung (spread), Atomare Strahlung (radiation), Chemische Stoffe (chemicals), Elektrizität, Explosion, Einsturz (collapse) and Erkrankung/Verletzung (illness or injury). In June 2025 a Cologne fire officer wrote a paper on water rescue. He noted that drowning and being swept away cannot be captured by the classic scheme. He cited a proposal to extend it with one more E, for Ertrinken/Wassergefahren, drowning and water hazards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsDItOR9Eas

Three Letters Against a Virus

During the coronavirus pandemic, German public health advice was condensed into three letters, AHA: Abstand, Hygiene, Alltagsmaske, distance, hygiene, everyday mask. Indoors an L was added, for Lüften, airing the room. After the meeting of the chancellor and the state premiers in October 2020, the federal government’s website showed the AHA+A+L-Formel. The second A stood for the Corona warning app. The Society for the German Language placed AHA fifth among its Words of the Year 2020.

Risks Into the Budget

In June 2015, the federal reform commission on the construction of large projects presented its final report. It explained why such projects so often cost more than planned. Cost estimates neglect existing risks and are often well below the costs that can really be expected. The regular underestimation of costs and time is often politically motivated. Even where risks were assessed, they usually did not enter the budget approved for the project. A study it cited of 170 large projects found an average cost increase of 73 percent, although the report noted that the study was not representative. Its third recommendation is titled Risikomanagement und Erfassung von Risiken im Haushalt, risk management and recording risks in the budget. Risks should be named when funds are requested. Identifying and assessing them, and planning countermeasures, should be a condition for receiving money. Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt summed it up: risk buffers and professional risk management make cost and time plans more reliable.