Federal structures in Germany and their impact on organizational processes
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This presentation deals with the organization of crisis management in a federal system, involving the central government and local authorities.
In Germany, the federal states are responsible for protection against catastrophes such as floods, terrorism, etc. They coordinate their own authorities and those of the cities.
Central government only coordinates forces when the catastrophy covers several federal states, or in the event of war.
At a local level, each city has its own fire brigade. The majority of them are voluntary fire brigades; only a few of them are professional fire brigades. This combination of professional and voluntary fire fighters is characteristic of German organization.
When several nearby cities are involved, it is this circle that is responsible for crisis management. However, when there is a major disaster, covering the territory of several cities, and states, the incident may be managed at several different levels. As said above, it is then the task of the central government to organize crisis management between the different cities.
Newsletter 7 on Workshop 6: Risk management and training
