BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th July, 2021) Disaster warning system were working when floods hit Germany, but the system of disaster protection of people requires improvement, Deputy Government Spokesperson Martina Fietz said Monday.
Floods in western Germany were caused by the heavy rainfalls last week. The states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, and Bavaria have been damaged by the disaster the most, reporting dozens of casualties.
"The experience that we've got due to this catastrophe shows that we should do more here, become better. In the past we also saw that there was a necessity of a constant improvement in the disaster protection," Fietz told a briefing.
Germany has a country-wide complex alarm system that includes a rapid warning tool known as NINA. According to Fietz, this system was active when floods hit, and this has ensured the protection of the population.
German media reported that the first indications of coming floods were detected by satellites nine days earlier. Four days before the catastrophe, the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) told the German and Belgian governments that the water level in the Rhine and the Meuse rivers rose dangerously. The German government was again informed of which areas precisely were at flood risk 24 hours ahead of the catastrophe.
The latest death toll from disastrous flooding today stands at 164 people killed and hundreds of others missing. On Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the flooded areas.
