They are intended to save lives and replace homes. For several years now, there has been a plan in Germany to build a reservoir of mobile tent cities for crisis situations. Civil protection organizations have dubbed the package of tents, containers, vehicles and technical equipment “Laboratory 5000”. Equipped with a kitchen, medical containers, internet, sanitary facilities and four-wheel drive ambulances, it can accommodate up to 5000 people in a short space of time. For example, if they have suddenly become homeless due to disasters or war.
Germany actually wanted to buy ten such care modules and distribute them across the country. They could be dismantled into 250 truckloads so that they could be deployed quickly. Each one cost around 30 million euros. The concept was developed in 2018. The flood on the Ahr, the war in Ukraine and the subsequent growing number of refugees have clearly demonstrated how useful this can be. The tent cities could provide electricity and clean water even if the municipal supply collapsed. The latest civil protection plans in the event of a possible Russian attack on NATO territory are also based on such precautions.
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But the project is still not really getting off the ground. So far, only one module has been fully financed and is at least partially in use by the German Red Cross. The second is in preparation, but has only been partially financed so far. The NGO responsible makes no secret of the fact that it does not understand the delays. For core civil protection projects such as Laboratory 5000, “there is currently too little money available,” said DRK Secretary General Christian Reuter of the South German Newspaper and warns: “The ten modules should be financed as quickly as possible.”
The Laboratory 5000, once developed as a prototype for solving problems, is now considered by experts to be a prime example of the problem: flood disasters, storms, heat waves and forest fires in recent years have revealed gaps in civil protection, says Reuter. Disaster prevention is “a key task of the federal government”. The gaps are “often only closed half-heartedly or not closed at all, especially at the federal level”. The Federal Ministry of the Interior headed by Nancy Faeser (SPD) has announced that it will stick to the goal of ten care modules. However, the deadlines for setting up the first two modules have already been extended to 2026.
The Red Cross wants students to learn how to resuscitate people
The solution lies not only in more money, but also in the fact that the population can be better protected with more economical spending, for example by giving them more ability to help themselves in crisis situations, argue NGOs. The German Red Cross, for example, is calling for resuscitation classes to be made compulsory in schools across the board. Training laypeople to become nursing support staff for crisis situations could also help. But there are currently no funds in the budget for this either. The German Red Cross is currently organizing pilot training courses at its own expense.
The civil defense workers, however, have had enough of their own hardship. As with the Bundeswehr, they are now calling for a major step forward. “We also need a change of era in the area of disaster prevention,” demands German Red Cross Secretary General Reuter. However, the budget for 2024 only allocates around 550 million euros for civil protection and disaster relief – a decrease of around ten million euros.
This is considered to be too little to rebuild civil protection, which was severely cut back after the end of the Cold War. The German Red Cross has been pushing for 0.5 percent of the federal budget to go to civil protection for many years, i.e. “around two billion euros,” says Reuter. However, he sees no indication of a significant increase in funding for 2025.