In response to the 31-hour blackout in Treptow-Köpenick in 2019, 36 local contact points – so-called civil protection beacons – are to be created for the population in the districts and equipped with emergency power generators.

But only half of them have an emergency power supply that is secured, at least for the beginning. This emerges from a response from SPD Interior Secretary Torsten Akmann to a request from FDP MP Tobias Bauschke.

The paper caused some astonishment in the district offices. Because the response from the internal administration says: “The districts have not yet set up the civil protection lighthouses due to various delays in the procurement and delivery of the technical components and the burden on the districts due to the corona pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict closed.”

The Senate also wrote that there were neither fixed nor mobile emergency power generators for the three planned civil protection lighthouses in the Mitte district. The district office disagreed and said that at least mobile generators were available.

[We report weekly from the twelve districts of Berlin in our People newsletter. Free and compact: leute.tagesspiegel.de]

What particularly annoys the districts: The Senate does not mention in its answer that it apparently does not supply itself – namely technical operating concepts, instructions for setting up emergency power grids in the district administrations, plans for networking among the lighthouses and for the supply of information.

An employee explained clearly what this means for the districts: Although the emergency power technology, which runs on petrol or diesel, was delivered, the description is missing. It’s like buying an Ikea cupboard if there are no assembly instructions with it. The technology is available, but it is completely unclear how it should be used.

The interior administration, on the other hand, explains that they have prepared “a training and instruction concept” for the lighthouses and are offering training courses.

The contact points – mostly in town halls, citizens’ registration offices or other public places – are intended to inform the population if neither the internet, television or radio work during a prolonged power outage.

To this end, they should be equipped with modern IT technology, notebooks, screens and, in particular, supplied with electricity. Internal communication with authorities must also be secured. Just how – that’s still unclear to the districts.

[If you want all the latest news live on your phone, we recommend our app, which you can download here for Apple and Android devices.]

According to the Senate Administration, the districts are prepared very differently. In Pankow, fixed emergency power generators are missing in four out of five places, the mobile power generators only run for twelve hours. It is similar in Neukölln and Marzahn-Hellersdorf.

In other districts, the contact points are equipped with fixed emergency power generators – albeit with different running times. In Charlottenburg, the emergency power should be available for 14 days. In Zehlendorf 168 hours, at other locations three days. The further refueling is unclear, it said. According to the Senate, a supply for any period of time “cannot be guaranteed”. Without electricity, there would then be “verbal information” and “postings”.