After the flood disaster in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia two years ago, demands have focussed mostly on better technical solutions. “But siren systems, warning apps or cell broadcasting are not the sole solution to the existing problems,” says Frieder Kircher, chairman of the joint committee on fire safety education and information of the German Fire Brigades Association (DFV) and the Association for the Promotion of German Fire Protection (vfdb). The question of whether broad sections of the population know how to behave correctly in the event of impending disasters and how to prepare properly was not discussed much, he said. The topic of self-help by the population will be given a lot of attention at the 69th vfdb Annual Conference from 15 to 17 May in Münster. The motto is: “Can we also help ourselves?

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