The Federal office of Civil protection suggests that you keep certain items in your house so that you can be prepared in a disaster situation.
Such a situation can easily occur during extreme weather conditions like snow or flooding.
The national emergency number is 112
It is a good idea to install the Nina app (Notfall-Informations- und Nachrichten) from the BKK (Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe)
A manual on how to prepare and what to do during a disaster situation can be downloaded in German here, and also in English
A person can manage for three weeks without food but only four days without water or liquids, but what else do you need?
You can download the complete list of suggestions here
Here are some items on the list that they suggest you have in your house
Main Supply for 10 days
- Beverages – 2 litre per person per day
- Foodstuff: Grain, Cereal products, potatoes, pasta and rice – 3.5 kg of each
- Tinned vegetables and legumes – 4 kg
- Milk – 2.6 kg
- Fat and oils – 0.357 kg
- other products you might want like Sugar, honey, dried products like Mash, salt
Medicinal
- DIN First aid kit
- Pain tablets
- Prescribed Medicine
- Antiseptic ointment
- Flu medicine
- Meds for tummy troubles
- Tweezer
- Thermometer
Hygiene Items
- Soap and detergents
- Toothbrushes and toothpaste
- Toilet paper
- Camping toilet
- Garbage bags
- Household gloves
- Disinfectant
Fire prevention
- Keep your attic and basement as clean and uncluttered as possible
- Fire extinguisher
- Smoke detectors ( It is mandatory in most states to have a smoke detector in your bedrooms)
- Water bucket
- Container for water to use for extinguishing a fire
Power loss – very likely in extreme weather
- Candles or tea lights
- Matches (Streichhölzer) or fire lighter (Feuerzeug)
- Torch with extra batteries
- Camping stove with burning fuel
- A heater that does not work with electricity, with enough fuel
- Having enough cash reserves at home, ATMs work with power.
- Charged power/battery banks
- The BKK (Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance) has great tips on how to prepare for the loss of power.
Communication
- A Battery operated radio with spare batteries, so you can listen to notifications
- Battery bank for mobile phones
There are more items on their list like documents and an emergency bag with clothes, blankets etc.
Obligation to assist a person in need
Also, take note that according to Section § 323c of the Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch) you are obliged to help a person in need:
Section 323c
Failure to render assistance; obstruction of persons rendering assistance
1. Whoever does not render assistance in the case of an accident or a common danger or emergency although it is necessary and can reasonably be expected under the circumstances, in particular, if it is possible without substantial danger to that person and without breaching other important duties, incurs a penalty of imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or a fine.
2. Whoever obstructs a person who is rendering or wishes to render assistance to another person in such a situation incurs the same penalty.
You can read more about it here
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