Expert sees considerable shortcomings in district administration
During the flood disaster in the Ahrweiler district around two and a half years ago, there were considerable shortcomings in disaster control, according to an expert. "The Technical Operations Command (TEL) did not have a suitable model of the developing danger," Dominic Gißler quoted on Monday in the state parliament's flood disaster investigation committee from the expert report he prepared for the public prosecutor's office. "The cause lies in the entire leadership system," said the Berlin professor of leadership and civil protection. "The command system was structurally and functionally under-complex."
For example, there had been too little time to set up the disaster control with three-quarters of a post in the district administration, there had been no staff regulations or systematic reporting system in the TEL, and there had been no administrative staff, said Gißler. "Fundamental things were not regulated."
In front of the state parliament, the parents of a 22-year-old woman who died in the flood held a vigil in memory of the 135 people who died in the Ahr valley.
The public prosecutor's office is investigating former Ahr district administrator Jürgen Pföhler (CDU) and an employee of the district's crisis team on suspicion of negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm. Pföhler had denied the accusations.
The Parliament deliberated on the necessity of improving the district administration's disaster management after recognizing its inadequacies during the Ahrweiler flood disaster. Despite the Storm that hit the region, the Parliament found that the TEL lacked a comprehensive plan and a well-structured leadership system.
Source: www.dpa.com
