A global pandemic, a terrorist attack in Vienna and cyber attacks. The Austrian Armed Forces have been correct in their latest predictions about national security risks. And now they are preparing intensely for another scenario: a great power outage of indefinite time. “The question is not if there will be a big blackout, but when“, said recently the Minister of Defense, the conservative Klaudia Tanner, who has supervised a series of maneuvers and awareness-raising initiatives on what she says is” a real danger, but underestimated. ”
The latest measure has been to launch an information campaign this month, with advertising in the media and the dissemination of more than six thousand posters distributed throughout the country with the title: “What to do when everything stops”. The posters are accompanied by a small guide with practical advice on what materials to have at home to be prepared: fuel, candles, batteries, preserves and drinking water.
“What to do when nothing works? When there is no water or electricity. A major blackout has huge consequences. With this campaign we want to raise awareness and give information and advice “, argued the minister. A blackout,” blackout “in English, would mean that traffic lights, computers, ATMs, telephones, internet and many other services would stop working, exposing the fragility of a day by day increasingly digitized.
The causes for a possible failure of the electrical system there are manyFrom technical failures, peak demand surges, system malfunctions or even “extraterrestrial” causes: In 1989, millions of people were left in the dark in Québec (Canada) due to a virulent solar or geomagnetic storm. Austria has taken this scenario so seriously that from 2025 one hundred of its main military headquarters will be as self-sufficient as possible in terms of energy, fuel, clean water and food.
Austria’s plan for 2025: self-sufficient military barracks in all federal states
Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Kugelweis explains that these barracks would be the base of support for civil organizations, such as firefighters and health workers, that require energy and coordination for their work in the event of a blackout. “As of 2025, there should be self-sufficient barracks in all federal states (regions) to guarantee the Army’s response in the event of a blackout, and thus give civil organizations the opportunity to ‘recharge'”, explains the official.
In the last 18 months, the Army has carried out several maneuvers in which the response to this situation and how to improve coordination with the police and other organizations were tested. “A blackout is a threat with a great impact on society. And it is important that all emergency servicessuch as police, ambulances or firefighters, keep running. In the event of a blackout, the main task of the Armed Forces is to supply and support other emergency organizations “, sums up the military man.
The Army recommends having at home Sufficient reservations for the equivalent of two weeks of camping, as well as agreeing in advance with family and friends on a meeting point and laying the foundations for a network of neighborhood cooperation. Kugelweis recommends, for example, having food that is very durable, such as pasta and rice, as well as preserves, two liters of water per person per day, candles, flashlights, a portable gas stove, cash and a radio that works. with batteries.
Could there be a blackout across the continent?
But how real is the possibility of a big blackout in Europe? The Army already warned in 2017, in a document on risks in the next decade, that a pandemic posed a threat, and time has proved it right. The same data analysis process that was used to forecast the pandemic, emphasizes this lieutenant colonel, it is the basis for “the extensive preparations of the Armed Forces in the face of the effects of a possible blackout.”
The Ministry of the Interior has also developed an action protocol that foresees in the first moments of a blackout reinforcing the deployment of the police to discourage any temptation to loot and regulate traffic before the foreseeable fall of the traffic lights. Surveillance of sensitive infrastructures would also be strengthened.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer recently said that a blackout was “one of the greatest threats to a modern stateThe risk of a blackout is also taken very seriously by the Austrian electricity grid operator and by all the energy companies of the Alpine country. For Gerhard Christiner, technical director of the Austrian Electricity Network (APG), climate change and extreme weather, with intense waves of heat and cold, increase the risk of a “blackout”.
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
