Civil protection

The term "civil protection" (Bevölkerungsschutz) refers to all emergency management tasks and measures taken by federal, state and local governments. In Germany, protecting the population (Bevölkerungsschutz) encompasses all civilian measures to protect the population against the impacts of serious emergencies, disasters and wars. This includes action to contain and manage such incidents. Germany’s constitution, the Basic Law, assigns responsibility for protection tasks as follows: The federal states (Länder) are responsible for disaster management, while the Federation is responsible for civil protection (Zivilschutz) and disaster assistance.