Civil Projection Germany – A challenge in a federal state

Due to the federalistic structure of Germany civil projection has a multilevel structure. The whole country consists of 16 states which are in charge for disaster management In theirregion. The basis of the German civil protection is the emergency medical service (EMS); every local authority is responsible for providing an EMS system. The EMS in Germany is a twotired system with paramedic staffed BLS-Units and physician staffed ALS-Units. It is run bya fire brigade, aid organizations or private companies and is responsible for the treatment of individual emergency cases as well as management of local mass casualty incidences likefires or accidents. In the latter cases they are usually supported by volunteers from the first brigade and the aid organizations. The biggest aid organizations engaged in disaster management in Germany are the German Red Cross, the MalteserHilsdienst, the Johannieterand the ArbeiterSamarite Bund. In these organizations more Than 100.000 volunteers are spending their leisure time and are trained in medical treatment of patients.In case of a disaster affecting more than one local authority, the state gains responsibility for coordination of the mission (e.g. floods, loss of electricity). In general, the 16 states are responsible for the disaster management in peace time. Only in cases of defense the nationalauthorities are in charge in Germany. For a better coordination of large and / or long-lasting incidents like floods the Jointnational situation and coordination canter located at the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) was found in 2004. With the BBK Germany has a centerorganizational element working to ensure the safety of population, combining and providingall relevant tasks and information in a single place. Additionally, for technical relief in disasters the Federal Agency for Technical Relief(TechnischesHilfswerk (THW)) is the voluntary organization of the Federal Ministry of theInterior. In 2014 more than 80.000 volunteers formed 668 local sections of the THW. TheTHW is not only working in Germany; since the THW was founded, more than 100 missions across the world were accomplished. In these cases the help of the German state is requested by the affected state via the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the German Government.