How Bayern prepares for the blackout – Bayern

In a few days, the first district offices in Bavaria will receive mail. A small package, the contents: a phone that looks like one of those nineties cell phones, a bit bulky and with an antenna. The Bavarian interior minister believes that the state of Bavaria should be prepared if a blackout really does occur, a widespread power outage. The satellite phones should help that “a certain amount of leadership is possible in such catastrophic situations,” says Joachim Herrmann (CSU).

Sabotaged gas pipelines, severed railway cables, blackout warnings. The recent past has shown how sensitive critical infrastructure can be. CSU MP Norbert Dünkel said on Wednesday in the state parliament’s interior committee that he was already feeling “a certain degree of uncertainty” in society. There, Minister of the Interior Herrmann will present his report on the protection of critical infrastructure in Bavaria. At the moment, says Herrmann, there are “no signs that we are about to face a major energy shortage that would cause the system to collapse.” Nevertheless, one must prepare for all scenarios, not least because of the war against Ukraine.

The minister emphasizes that more than 80 percent of critical infrastructure is in the hands of local authorities or private individuals. Satellite telephones are one of the concrete measures that the state government can use to prepare the country in the event of a widespread power blackout. By the end of the first quarter of 2023, every district office, every urban district, every district government and every ministry should be equipped with such a device. Frank Unkroth, top civil protection officer in the Ministry of the Interior, speaks of the “last fallback level of crisis communication” in an emergency.

In addition, the ministry plans to equip all 71 district offices and all 25 urban districts with emergency power trucks that are to be parked at the fire brigades. With the mobile emergency generators, it is possible to keep the intensive care unit of a clinic running despite blackouts, says civil protection officer Unkroth. According to him, 20 emergency power trucks have been delivered to fire departments so far.

In addition, Interior Minister Herrmann “emphatically asked the mayors and district administrators in a video conference on Tuesday to carry out disaster exercises “as comprehensively as possible” again in the coming year. During the corona pandemic, some exercises could not have taken place, “now we clearly have to get back to work,” says Herrmann. A large-scale power failure is “a different situation” than “punctual flooding,” emphasizes civil protection officer Unkroth. Because several municipalities or districts can be affected at the same time, everyone must “take care of themselves”.

The state shouldn’t “shoot at sparrows with cannons,” warns Katharina Schulze

As far as possible cyber attacks on the critical infrastructure are concerned, the minister sees the Free State as well equipped. There are “thousands of attacks” in Bavaria, “every week, every month,” says Herrmann. As a particular example, he cited the hacker attack on the computer system at the Fürth Clinic in December 2019. At that time, several non-critical surgeries had to be cancelled. However, the fact that the majority of such attacks are unsuccessful shows “that we are not that bad at cyber defence”.

For the CSU MP Dünkel, the most recent climate protest actions on Bavarian streets also represent “attacks” on the critical infrastructure. His party colleague Alfred Grob suggested in the interior committee that all those who cling to the streets in protest should stay “in the background”. to “review” and “consider how to counteract this in a preventive and repressive manner”. In a separate report, Interior Minister Herrmann emphasized that the protest actions were being “closely followed” but that the “last generation”, which is responsible for a number of actions, “as such” has not yet been observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

All factions in the state parliament agree that this form of protest is not effective. Green party leader Katharina Schulze once again emphasizes that it is “disproportionate” to take activists into police custody for up to 30 days. The state should not “shoot at sparrows with cannons”. Minister Herrmann assures that a 30-day detention “must remain the absolute exception”. But again he defended the tough action of the police. Anyone can demonstrate: “We’re not in Tehran, we’re not in Moscow, we’re not in Beijing.” But everyone has to “stick to the rules of the game”, otherwise you end up “in chaos”.

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