Civil protection
Responsibilities for civil protection and disaster control are set out in the Basic Law. According to this, the federal government is responsible for civil protection, which exclusively covers dangers in the event of a defense situation.
Disaster control in peacetime, i.e., protection against everyday hazards, is the responsibility of the states and municipalities. The state of Rhineland-Palatinate has transferred this task to the counties and independent cities as a mandatory task of local self-government.
For personnel, technical, and financial reasons, however, it would not make sense for the federal and state governments to maintain independent assistance systems for combating damage situations that have different causes but similar effects.
There is therefore close cooperation between the federal and state governments in such a way that peacetime disaster control also performs tasks to protect the population in the event of defense. Conversely, the supplementary potential for civil protection financed by the federal government is also available to the states for everyday hazard prevention.