Parliament - Taking of evidence in the flood investigation committee continues
The hearing of evidence in the state parliament 's Flood Disaster Investigation Committee will continue in 2024 with the questioning of an expert. The managing director of the Kiel Institute for Crisis Research, Frank Roselieb, will be heard again as an expert witness on February 16, announced the chairman of the committee of inquiry, Martin Haller (SPD), on Wednesday in Mainz after a closed session. The Free Voters had submitted the request for evidence.
Roselieb is to be questioned about Dominic Gißler's expert opinion, which was presented to the committee of inquiry at the end of November. According to the Berlin professor of leadership and civil protection, there were considerable deficiencies in the district's disaster control during the Ahr flood disaster around two and a half years ago, which claimed 135 lives. "Fundamental things were not organized," Gißler found. "People's lives could have been saved." But it was unclear how many.
In his first interview in April 2022, Roselieb saw clear deficits on the part of the then Ahr district administrator Jürgen Pföhler (CDU), but also the then Environment Minister Anne Spiegel (Greens) in dealing with the flood disaster. "The main responsibility lay with the district administrator," the expert had said. This survey was about the structures in disaster control and the distribution of tasks between the municipalities, the districts, the state and the federal government. The new questioning is exclusively about the details of Gißler's report.
The Koblenz public prosecutor's office is investigating Pföhler and a close member of the crisis team on suspicion of negligent homicide. The CDU politician had rejected the accusations. The authorities recently announced that a result could be expected in January at the earliest.
In the flood disaster on the night of July 14-15, 2021, 136 people lost their lives in Rhineland-Palatinate, 135 of them in the Ahr region - and one in the Trier area. One person is still missing.
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- Despite the ongoing investigation by the Koblenz public prosecutor's office, the state parliament's Flood Disaster Investigation Committee is set to continue its inquiry in 2024, with Frank Roselieb, the managing director of the Kiel Institute for Crisis Research, providing further evidence on February 16.
- The focus of Roselieb's new evidence will be on the specifics of Dominic Gißler's report, which highlighted significant deficiencies in disaster management during the Ahr flood disaster in 2018, leading to the loss of 135 lives.
- The Free Voters submitted the request for Roselieb's appearance before the committee of inquiry, following Gißler's presentation of his expert opinion at the end of November 2022.
- In his previous interview in April 2022, Roselieb criticized the handling of the flood disaster by Jürgen Pföhler, the then Ahr district administrator (CDU), and Anne Spiegel, the former Environment Minister (Greens).
- Pföhler is currently under investigation by the Koblenz public prosecutor's office for suspected negligent homicide, along with a close member of the crisis team.
- The committee of inquiry's inquiry is part of a broader investigation into the structures and responsibilities in disaster control and task distribution between municipalities, districts, the state, and the federal government.
- The flood disaster claimed 136 lives across Rhineland-Palatinate, with 135 fatalities occurring in the Ahr region and one death reported in the Trier area, leaving one person still missing.
Source: www.stern.de
