civil protection
Faeser does not rely on bunkers – warning infrastructure more important
View into a corridor of the former bunker of the Rhineland-Palatinate state government in Alzey. In Germany it was decided in 2007 to close down the public shelters. This process was initially stopped in March 2022. photo
© Fredrik Von Erichsen/dpa
There are no protective bunkers for everyone in Germany. Building them would be very expensive. The considerations initiated last year on how to deal with this situation are not yet complete.
According to Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, there will be no civil protection bunkers for millions of people in Germany in the future either. The existing resources should be better used for an effective warning, for emergency power generators, emergency wells and systems for the treatment of drinking water as well as for mobile accommodation for the temporary accommodation and care of a larger number of people, said the SPD politician at an event of the German Press Agency in Berlin.
When asked what happened to the inventory of bunkers that started in 2022, she replied: “No, I don’t think it’s realistic that this is a scenario, we have to focus on other things.”
Baerbock visits huge bunkers in Helsinki
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited the huge bunkers under the Finnish capital Helsinki. “In terms of civil protection, Finland is a pioneer in Europe and a role model for all of us,” she said. The underground facilities offer space for 900,000 people – more than the city has inhabitants. In times of peace, the facilities are used as sports halls, among other things. There are 50,500 bunkers in Finland, sheltering five million people. The country has 5.5 million inhabitants. The facilities date from the Cold War era. Finland shares a 1340 km border with Russia.
Baerbock referred to this long limit in an answer to the question of why Germany does not have such protective systems. “Fortunately, in the past, Germany was not as exposed to the risk that we ourselves are vulnerable” as other countries, she said. But she also emphasized that the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine signified a turning point. “Precaution is the best protection, especially in these times,” she said.
The Greens member of the Bundestag Leon Eckert said: “There are hardly 600 shelters left in Germany.” A nationwide expansion of shelters would be extremely expensive – “money that is urgently needed elsewhere for civil protection”. First and foremost is a warning infrastructure that reaches everyone. In addition to the ability to defend against IT attacks, the structural protection of critical infrastructures must come to the fore.
BBK: “Never more shelters than for three percent of the population”
In Germany it was decided in 2007 to close down the public shelters. This process was initially stopped in March 2022 – after the start of the Ukraine war. The President of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), Ralph Tiesler, said in an interview last autumn that an inventory of the remaining bunkers and shelters is currently being carried out. In 2023, it should then be seen “which of them can theoretically be reactivated”. At the same time, Tiesler pointed out that in the past there had “never been more shelters for more than three percent of the population”.
The BBK said on request: “Against the background of the war in Ukraine, the release of public shelters from civil defense was suspended by the federal government and it was decided, together with the states, to first take stock of all shelters still subject to civil defense.”
This complex three-stage inventory is associated with comprehensive, sometimes very time-consuming test measures. In particular, the structural condition of the systems, the functionality of civil protection equipment – such as ventilation systems or shelter gates – and the possibility of reactivation of the systems are checked. According to the current status, the inventory can be expected to be completed by the end of March at the latest. “A decision will then be made on how to proceed,” said a spokesman. The topic is also likely to come up at the next conference of interior ministers from the federal and state governments, which will take place in Berlin in June.