The Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk THW (German for: German Federal Agency for Technical Relief) 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 the civil defense in case of a war. The largest disaster control action took place in August 2002 after the severe flooding of the Elbe river in eastern Germany. Totally over 20,000 members brought into action. Up to 10,000 people were helping simultanously along the Elbe and its tributaries. 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 temporal electrical power the hospitals and other important institutions and rebuilding parts of the electrical system.

Organsiation

The THW is allocated all over Germany in 665 local sections, called Ortsverband. 60,000 peoples are working for this organisation. The majority of people are volunteers. Less then 1000 peoples working full time in the head of the organisation. Each Ortsverband maintanins one or more Technical Platoons, each consisting of one Command Squad with four volunteers and three special units with nine to eighteen volunteers. The main type of special unit is Rescue and Salvage (about two out of three), equipped with heavy tools like hydraulic scissors, hydraulic chain saws, pneumatic hammers, ...). Other groups include Infrastructure, Debris Clearance, Electric Supply, Illumination, Pumping and Sewage, Boat and Pontoon, Logistics, Blasting, Oil Pollution, Water Supply and Treatment and others. Additionally, there are four groups Rapid Deployment Unit Search and Rescue (able to go airborne within six hours!) and five groups Rapid Deployment Water Supply and Treatment (both types important e.g. in case of earthquakes like South Asia in Dec 2004).

In Germany military service is mandatory for men aged eighteen. Instead of going to the military for nine months full-time one may work at the civil service (e.g. caring for elderly and disabled persons, full-time also) or spend six years at the THW, volunteer fire brigades, or other civil institutions part-time (at least 120 hours each year).

References

• www.thw.de Official homepage, mostly in German with a summary in English.

• thw_infoblatt_englisch.pdf Short summary about the THW, its functions, structure, units and equipment.