BS-R-3: Exercise volume
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2023 Monitoring Report on the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change
Click to enlargeSource: filmbildfabrik / stock.adobe.com
BS-R-3: Exercise volume
As a rule, the THW is able to carry out the necessary amount of training exercises adequately, both in terms of time and participants, even in years when extreme events have to be dealt with. The severe flood events of 2013 and 2021 did not affect the training hours attended any more than just negligibly. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the THW focused on maintaining its operating capacity. In 2020 and 2021 exercises were possible only with severe limitations.
The illustration BS-R-3 ’Exercise volume’ covers two time series with a line chart indicating the development of the exercise volume for the period 2005 to 2021. The values for 2005 are indexed to 100. One of the time series indicates the number of training hours attended. In 2015 a major dip occurred temporarily. This was followed by an increase in the number of training hours attended to a record value of some 135 hours in 2019. There is no trend indicated by this line. The second line indicates the development regarding the training hours attended by exercise participants. This time series shows a significantly falling trend. In 2013 a dip occurred down to an index value of 80. Likewise, in the years 2017 and 2019 the index value was also approximately 80. During the Corona years exercises were only possible to a very limited extent. In the years 2020 and 2021 both time series indicate index values between 15 and 27. The trend analysis was therefore carried out to the exclusion of the years 2020 and 2021.
Exercises – basis for appropriate action in an emergency
By means of regular training exercises the emergency relief responders are supported in safeguarding the foundation for appropriate action in extreme situations; this is the basis of targeted crisis management. Regular training enables emergency relief responders to act appropriately, both in respect of organising and coordinating relief operations and also in providing immediate assistance on location. There is no specific reference to climate-related aspects required for these exercises as far as preparing for the impacts of climate change is concerned, because any relevant potential events arising will not differ fundamentally from the way they are occurring now. Coping with heavy rainfall and storms but also flooding events or periods of hot weather is part of the core remit of civic protection. New challenges may arise, above all, from increases in frequency and intensity of such events in future and increasingly they could also arise from a potential overlap as and when they occur.
Basically, training exercises for civic protection can be carried out in two different ways: either as a full-scale exercise scenario or as a (simulated) command post exercise. The purpose of the latter is, in particular, to contribute to checking the communication structures and to prepare the authorities responsible for disaster relief services for a real emergency. This is because after training or real-time emergencies it has often emerged that there is room for improvement in civic protection, especially in terms of inter-organisational communication and coordination. For this reason, training exercises in civic protection are usually structured in a way as to involve units from various regions and – where appropriate – with different types of specialisation including for instance their material equipment, thus allowing them to train jointly.
In this process, the frequency of, and participation in, exercises are subject to various influencing factors. This can mean on occasion that an exercise is slightly reduced in scale without affecting the efficacy of emergency relief responders. For example, in years with increased frequency of emergency call-outs, the number of participants and training hours attended may be diminished because volunteers lack the time to participate or they need to be allowed the necessary time to rest. Any lack of knowledge of response routines taught in training exercises owing to non-attendance will in such cases be offset by experience gained in the process of real-time call-outs.
Increasingly, one obstacle to participation in exercises is a lack of willingness on the part of employers to release the THW’s or other relief organisations’ voluntary helpers from their paid employment for the purpose of participating in training exercises. In years with high call-out figures, this can be one of the reasons why non-participation in training exercises is permitted, thus making it unnecessary for volunteers to request yet more release from their paid occupation. A case in point occurred in 2013 for instance, in terms of a decline in training hours attended, when in May and June of that year the emergency relief responders faced particularly demanding challenges as a result of severe flooding caused by violent and persistent rain, especially in the east and south-east of Germany. With the exception of both 2020 and 2021, the amount of training hours attended was lowest in 2015, amounting to a total of slightly more than 308,000 hours. This was caused by greater involvement of THW emergency relief responders in the coordination and implementation of finding accommodation for refugees arriving in Germany.
The years 2020 and 2021 are characterised by a massive decline both in training hours attended and in exercise participants. This development is primarily a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic: At that time the THW’s focus was on maintaining its operating capacity. Furthermore, the implementation of measures required in accordance with pertinent obligations in the fight against the pandemic made it necessary to reduce the exercise volume to a minimum. In 2021 when exercises became possible again to a limited extent, major exercises involving numerous participants continued to be curbed in order to reduce the amount of contact situations. Consequently, fewer than 5,000 emergency relief responders took part in THW exercises in 2021.
In mid-July 2021, the devastating flood disaster in western Germany was an additional factor affecting the exercise volume. However, even in cases of such major damage scenarios the THW is expected to reduce its exercise activities only slightly. For example, the number of training hours attended in the highly challenging year of 2013 with lots of call-outs, was no lower than in 2010 when distinctly fewer deployment hours accrued (cf. Indicator BS-I-1). Consequently, it can be stated that even in 2021 – despite the intensive deployment of THW emergency relief responders in the Ahr valley – the Covid-19 pandemic remained the determining factor in the development of the exercise -volume.
If you exclude the two years of 2020 and 2021 which were both characterised by the Covid-19 pandemic, the trend analysis for the development of training hours attended does not indicate a significant trend. After a slightly declining and subsequently fluctuating number of training hours between 2007 and 2017, the training hours attended started to rise again during the three years prior to the outbreak of the pandemic. In 2019 this number reached its maximum value so far. The total of 450,000 hours equates just under 40 % more training hours attended than in 2005. By contrast, the number of exercise participants, in terms of statistics, had already declined significantly prior to the outbreak of the pandemic. The development from 2015 to 2019 demonstrates that the actual participants attended more frequently and / or longer. During the years of 2005 to 2012 an average of approximately 19,500 full-time and volunteer relief responders took part in THW’s training exercises. In the period from 2013 to 2019 on average only approximately 16,500 volunteers took part in the exercises.
There are indeed other organisations which take on tasks in connection with civic protection; they too participate in training exercises thus preparing themselves for coping with the challenges of weather-related and weather-pattern related extreme events. However, the THW’s figures do not permit any conclusions regarding the training regimes of other organisations
