State crisis and disaster control management

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In Austria, State Crisis and Disaster Management  (SKKM) essentially means the coordination of the measures taken by authorities and emergency organizations in dealing with non-everyday dangers, damaging events and disasters at home and abroad by the Federal Ministry of the Interior .

history

In 1986, the Chernobyl reactor disaster clearly showed for the first time that technical hazards can also have massive cross-border effects. On November 3, 1986, based on the experience gained in dealing with the consequences of Chernobyl, the Federal Government decided to set up a state crisis management system at the Federal Chancellery . In response to the Galtür avalanche disaster , the Lassing mine disaster and the Tauern tunnel fire , the Federal Ministry of the Interior established responsibility for coordinating the state disaster control management in 2000 . In 2003, these two responsibilities were finally merged in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the structures were standardized as the State Crisis and Disaster Management (SKKM). The administrative organization for the coordination of the state crisis and disaster control management was established by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of January 20, 2004 on the reorganization of the state crisis and disaster control management and international disaster relief  (SKKM). The most important part of this decision is the establishment of a coordination committee at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, chaired by the Director General for Public Safety. All federal ministries as well as the federal states and emergency organizations are represented.

Since a state crisis management system was initially set up in 1986 and coordination responsibility for disaster control management was only established at federal level in 2000, the Federal Ministries Act still differentiates between crisis and disaster control management , although since 2004 there has only been one coordination procedure for this.

Basic terms in crisis and disaster management

The basic terms used in legal texts in crisis and disaster control management are not uniform due to the predominant national responsibility. In federal law, there is no standardized definition of a crisis or catastrophe at all. In contrast, the following basic terms can be found in federal and state law: disaster prevention, preventive disaster control (synonymous with disaster risk management), disaster relief, disaster response, disaster response, disaster police, defensive disaster control (as elements of disaster response), disaster management, disaster management (wording according to federal ministries).

To avoid potential problems that could result from an inconsistent understanding of the terminology, the Austrian Standardization Institute (Standardization Committee 246 "Integrated Emergency and Disaster Management") developed a uniform Austrian disaster management glossary and renamed ÖNORM S 2304 "Integrated Disaster Management Terms and Definitions " hung up. The following terms of ÖNORM S2304 are of central importance for disaster management.

Elements of disaster management
  • According to the legal definitions in the Austrian provincial laws or in accordance with ÖNORM S2304, a disaster is essentially an event in which the life or health of a large number of people, the environment or significant property are endangered or damaged to an extraordinary extent and the defense or control of the danger or the damage requires a coordinated deployment of the necessary forces and resources by an authority. The occurrence of an event that meets the requirements of a disaster must be determined by the responsible disaster authority. Legal consequences are linked to the determination of the disaster, v. a. uniform management by an authority, the possibility of special compulsory powers and the assumption of costs for disaster management measures by the state.
  • Disaster management comprises the entirety of all coordinated measures in the areas of disaster prevention , disaster risk reduction , disaster management and disaster recovery , including the ongoing evaluation of the measures taken in these areas. Disaster management thus includes all measures of the disaster management cycle defined at the same time.
  • Disaster relief is part of disaster management and consists of the entirety of all measures taken after a disaster in the areas of disaster management and recovery.
  • Disaster protection is the entirety of all measures taken before a disaster occurred in the areas of disaster avoidance and disaster risk management.
  • Under disaster prevention and disaster prevention is defined as the total of all preventive measures to minimize the likelihood and impact of a disaster. Avoidance includes all measures that lead to the occurrence of no or only moderate damage events, such as active and passive flood protection measures or building bans in endangered areas.
  • Disaster risk management is the entirety of all preparatory measures to avert and combat the dangers and damage that a possible disaster could cause. Thus, all measures to prepare for dealing with a disaster fall under precautionary measures. Prevention therefore begins where avoidance ends or is not possible. Avoidance and precaution should be based on a risk analysis .
  • Disaster management is the entirety of all measures taken by the authorities, emergency organizations and professional institutions as well as private individuals and those affected with the aim of averting and combating the dangers and damage caused by a disaster in order to protect the foundations of public life (in particular order and security as well as essential basic services ) and to be able to proceed to recovery. Management therefore includes time-limited measures immediately after an event. Disaster response is part of coping. It is understood to mean a disaster-triggered action by forces of the authorities, emergency organizations and appointed institutions for the purpose of disaster management, organized in accordance with the statutory provisions.
  • After all, restoration is the long-term restoration of the state before the disaster, including new preventive measures. Comprehensive disaster management thus leads to a continuous improvement in disaster prevention, a minimization of the disaster risk and an optimization of the precautionary measures.

Disaster management is therefore a permanent process that is not limited to simply dealing with disasters that have occurred.

Civil protection was originally the protection of the civilian population in the military cases of comprehensive national defense , crises, neutrality and defense cases, including the consequences of such events around Austria (due to Austria's neutrality , in addition to marching tactics through Austria, the consequencesof nuclear war in neighboring countries were primarily assumed ). In today's linguistic usage, the concept of civil protection has largely merged with that of disaster protection, especially due to the elimination of the direct military threat; In practice, however, civil protection still includes the component of protecting the civilian population in the event of a military incident - adapted to the 21st century also against paramilitary threats, in particular terrorism. Civil protection is therefore the totality of all measures to protect the population from dangers emanating from natural, technical and human violent events and is the generic term for disaster control in Austrian usage.

Structures of the SKKM

The entire complex of administrative tasks in connection with the avoidance and management of disasters is distributed among all regional authorities in Austria. The management of disasters and their effects is the responsibility of the federal states, as long as there are (exceptionally) no special federal responsibilities (see the section on distribution of competencies). Day-to-day security is the responsibility of the municipalities (local emergency police, local rescue services) or the mayor as the municipal authority. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the management of a disaster response is carried out in ascending order by the mayor, the head of the district administrative authority or the state government. In the federal Austrian administrative system, due to the distribution of competencies, disaster management at federal level is not possible. The federal government is only responsible for combating the effects of a disaster in individual administrative areas (see the section on distribution of competencies).

The coordination and cooperation of states with one another is carried out with major disasters on a voluntary basis by way of national warning centers  (LWZ) or the national associations and confederations of emergency services . At the federal level, the Federal Ministries Act stipulates that the Federal Ministry of the Interior is responsible for coordinating matters relating to state crisis management and state disaster control management as well as international disaster relief. The coordination responsibility of the Federal Ministry of the Interior therefore includes the federal government's area of ​​responsibility in crisis and disaster control management, but not the area of ​​responsibility of the federal states. Therefore, the Federal  Warning Center (BWZ) is located here as a coordination and contact point, which primarily networks all actors involved (federal authorities, federal services such as weather and flood service, the federal states, all emergency services and other organizations) - including foreign ones. It is headed by the Director General for Public Security  (GDföS).

Distribution of competencies

The distribution of competences for sovereign legislation and the implementation of disaster avoidance, preparedness and management between the federal and state governments is complex in Austria. The Federal Constitution does not define a "crisis or disaster" and therefore does not assign this matter to any regional authority for final regulation, rather it distributes the regulatory tasks between the federal government and the states. However, the lack of a separate “disaster management” or “disaster aid” for the benefit of the federal government does not mean that the legislative and enforcement powers remain exclusively with the federal states in accordance with the general clause contained in the federal constitution. Rather, by way of the interpretation of the federal competence offenses, it must be checked whether the aspect of disaster management is included in the respective competence offense. According to the prevailing doctrine in the health and veterinary sectors, i.e. above all in the fight against epidemics, e.g. In the case of transport, aircraft accidents, and forestry affirm. In addition, the focus of the regulation of disaster avoidance lies with the federal legislature. On the other hand, in other areas such as facility law or water law, especially in the event of flooding, the federal government has no jurisdiction to regulate disaster management, even though these are federal powers. In this respect, the focus of disaster management lies with the federal states. In addition, Art. 10 para. 1 line 12 B-VG expressly declares "rescue services" to be a national competence, from which it is also generally derived that the responsibility for "emergency and rescue measures in the event of a disaster" (with the restrictions described above) applies to the Countries. These have consistently enacted disaster relief laws, which, depending on the extent of the disaster, provide for the mayor, the district administrative authority and the state government as disaster control authorities, which have to make use of a disaster relief service in which federal bodies can also participate.

literature

  • Siegfried Jachs: Introduction to Disaster Management. Tredion, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8424-0124-2 .
  • Helmut Hörtenhuber: Disaster control as a problem of the federal distribution of competencies. In: Journal for Administration. 2007, pp. 154-162.
  • Peter Bußjäger : Disaster prevention and response in the state. (= Institute for Federalism series of publications. Volume 89). Braunmüller, Vienna 2003.
  • Ferdinand Kerschner among others: Handbook of natural disaster law. Prevention, defense, liability and insurance in the event of natural disasters. Manz, Vienna 2008.
  • Harald Festl: The right of the fire brigade. Vienna 1995.
  • Felix Andreaus: Legal basis of the Austrian rescue service. Diss. Univ. Vienna 2009.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Federal Ministry of the Interior, Civil Protection
  2. ↑ See. Jachs 2011, p 78 ff.
    In Germany they used the terms vice versa, in Switzerland's civil protection the generic term.
  3. ↑ cf. a .: Bußjäger: Disaster prevention and response, 2003.