Technisches Hilfswerk
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The Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk (German Federal Agency for Technical Relief, THW) is an organisation of the German government.
Tasks
The tasks of the THW are described in a law called Helferrechtsgesetz. These tasks are:- technical relief in Germany
- with assignment by the government technical or humanitarian relief in foreign countries
- technical and logistical relief for other (German) GOs, NGOs or other authorities like fire brigades, police or the custom authorities.
History
After World War II the Technisches Hilfswerk was founded in 1950. The main purpose was civil defense in the event of war. The largest disaster control action took place in August 2002 after the severe flooding of the Elbe river in eastern Germany. All in all, about 24,000 THW members participated in the operation. Up to 10,000 people were helping simultaneously along the Elbe and its tributaries, see 2002 European flood.
The largest action outside Germany was in France in 2000. Storms destroyed much of the overhead electrical overland wires and overturned trees blocked many streets. The main work was supplying temporary electrical power for the hospitals and other important institutions and rebuilding parts of the electrical system.
The organisation has also been active in many disaster relief operations abroad, for example after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (for both relief operations and medium-term rebuilding), Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.
Organisation
The THW is stationed all over Germany in 665 local bases, called Ortsverbände. 79,000 people work for this organisation. The majority of those are volunteers, while about 800 work full-time in the administration of the organisation. Each Ortsverband maintains one or more Technische Züge (technical platoons), each consisting of one Zugtrupp (command squad), comprising four volunteers, two Bergungsgruppen comprising nine to twelve volunteers, and one to three Fachgruppen, comprising four to eighteen volunteers. The main THW unit (about two out of three) is the Bergungsgruppe (rescue and salvage), equipped with heavy tools like hydraulic scissors, chain saws, pneumatic hammers, ...). The Fachgruppen include Infrastruktur (infrastructure), Räumen (debris clearance), Elektroversorgung (electric supply), Beleuchtung (illumination), Wasserschaden / Pumpen (water-damage / pumping), Wassergefahren (water-hazard), Logistik (logistics), Ölschaden (oil pollution), Trinkwasserversorgung (water supply and treatment) and others. For relief in foreign countries, there are four Schnelleinsatzeinheiten Bergung Ausland or SEEBA (rapid deployment unit search and rescue) (able to go airborne within six hours!) and five Schnelleinsatzeinheiten Wasserversorgung Ausland or SEEWA (rapid deployment water supply and treatment).In Germany, military service is mandatory for adult males. Instead of joining the military for nine months full-time, one may serve Wehrersatzdienst (substitute service) or Zivildienst (civilian service; denying military service for morale reasons and caring for elderly or disabled persons, also full-time). Men opting to serve Wehrersatzdienst join an organisation that is embedded in the Katastrophenschutz (disaster relief) or Zivilschutz (civil defense) for six years. The THW is one of those organisations, as well as volunteer fire brigades or various organisations engaged in emergency medical service. All of these are part-time (at least 120 hours each year), without pay.
Also, one may opt to join the police, thereby avoiding military service.
References
- [THW Wrestling] Official Homepage of a backyard wrestling promotion which shares the same initials.
- [THW - Homepage] Official homepage, mostly in German with a summary in English
- [Technisches Hilfswerk - German Federal Agency for Technical Relief] Short summary in English (PDF file)
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