This year’s “Combined Success 2018” crisis and disaster control exercise focused on a sudden, supra-regional and prolonged power failure, i.e. a “blackout”. This series of exercises, which has been organized by the state of Carinthia and the Austrian Armed Forces since 2009, aims to train the crisis teams of the districts and the emergency organizations in a wide variety of scenarios.
This year, the exercise was extended to several districts for the first time. The simulated power failure and the associated scenarios kept the Carinthian provincial government, the municipal authorities of the provincial capital Klagenfurt, the district authorities of Klagenfurt-Land, St. Veit an der Glan and Wolfsberg as well as all emergency organizations in the affected districts busy.
In addition to experts from the Carinthian provincial government, the Austrian army and fire department, the district authorities of Klagenfurt-Land, St. Veit an der Glan and Wolfsberg and the Klagenfurt municipal authorities, many other Carinthian specialists were also involved. In the Wolfsberg district, the amateur radio operators from the Austrian Experimental Transmitter Association were also involved. Whether heavy snowfall, storms or heavy rain with flooding – Carinthia’s regions are now hit by severe weather disasters almost every year. “Such events require effective cooperation between the relevant authorities and all emergency services and emergency organizations. This exercise is a simple way to identify problem areas and improve processes for a possible emergency”, explains Carinthian military commander Walter Gitschthaler. “The threat scenario of a prolonged, widespread power outage is no longer just the subject of various movies, but is very real and is taken very seriously by disaster management experts worldwide. It is therefore important that each and every one of us, and in particular the institutions and authorities responsible for public safety and order, are well coordinated and prepared for an emergency”, emphasizes Governor Peter Kaiser on the need to prepare such plans.
Around 120 people in the district crisis teams and the exercise management team were involved in the crisis management. The exercise was based on the assumption of a Europe-wide and prolonged power outage. Not only the effects of this so-called “blackout”, but also other rehearsed scenarios such as heavy snowfall, fires or accidents challenged the task forces and organizations. In the district of St. Veit an der Glan, the municipalities of Metnitz and Althofen as well as a hospital also took part in the exercise. Due to the local and geographical differences in the districts, the challenges were different. However, maintaining public safety, fuel supply, medical care and passing on information to the population were major issues for all three task forces. Two emergency newspaper editions were also produced during this exercise in order to provide the population with important information. The Kleine Zeitung and the Kronen Zeitung produced them together with the Carinthian regional press service. “Our joint project with the newspaper emergency edition is unique in this form throughout Europe,” says Gerd Kurath, Head of the Provincial Press Service. Regular crisis exercises are necessary in order to be able to deal with a disaster in a determined and structured manner. Proof of this is also provided by the excellent cooperation of all emergency services in the course of the current storm and water damage in Carinthia. “With the wide range of topics and interventions, it was possible to raise the profile of the participants in the exercise and the authorities for the topic of a ‘blackout’. The very high level of motivation of the exercised units and participants is particularly impressive,” summarizes one of the exercise leaders, Colonel Erwin Hubmann from the Carinthia Military Command. He drew up the catalog of exercises for the district headquarters and is the “mastermind” behind the “Combined Success” exercise series alongside the Carinthian state disaster control officer, Markus Hudobnik.
