A Monumental Failure of the System?

©NYT

You have all seen those unbelievable pictures of the Jahrhundertflut (flood of the century), which has stricken Germany and its neighboring countries.

Hannah Cloke, a professor of hydrology at the University of Reading and co-developer of the European Flood Awareness System EFAS, has leveled serious accusations against the German government and its disaster management. She said, "Warnings had already been sent to the German and Belgian governments on July 10. Since people had nevertheless not been evacuated or had not received warnings, one must speak of a monumental system failure."

 
Part of the accusation is true, but even in those communities where flood warnings were received and distributed, the people living in areas accustomed to flooding did not imagine such masses of water coming within minutes. They were taken by a deadly surprise triggered by a month's worth of rain that fell within a couple of hours.

The Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) confirmed that the problem in the flood disaster was not a weakness in the state warning system but how sensitively local authorities and the population reacted to the warnings.

And it is true. Germany has been very fortunate to have experienced relatively few natural disasters over the decades. That means disaster prevention measures have not been sufficiently expanded even though experts have warned of extreme local weather events due to climate change for years. Well, afterward, one is always wiser.

It is also true that extreme weather events due to climate change have the earth firmly in their grasp. We can only mitigate the consequences of such natural disasters but cannot avoid them.

When our chancellor visited the stricken areas in Rhineland-Palatinate, she said, "The German language hardly knows words for the devastation wrought here. "

©dpa

"We stand by your side, "Angela Merkel (Christian Democrat) promised to the mayors present and Rhineland-Palatinate's Governor Malu Dreyer (Social Democrat) and supported Malu suffering from MS with her hand and arm.

©t-online

What a contrast to another scene - live on TV. While our Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier made a serious and sympathetic statement to the victims in the flood zone, chancellor hopeful and governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, smirked in the background. 

©Marius Becker/dpa

A giggling Laschet made the social media.

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