US embassy cable - 05VIENNA725

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENNA 000725 
 
SIPDIS 
 
CA/OCS for KChristman; EUR/AGS for VVikmanis-Keller, 
DS/IP/EUR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC, ASEC, AEMR, AU 
SUBJECT: Disaster Preparedness in the Austrian Alps 
 
1.  Summary: On March 2 and 3, 2005, ConGen and RSO 
visited the Tyrolean capital of Innsbruck for briefings 
on disaster preparedness by state government officials. 
A tour of the State Fire Fighting Institute specifically 
included, at our request, tunnel fire rescues.  We then 
visited the Avalanche Crisis Center to learn how 
avalanche warnings are issued, and what resources are 
brought to bear on avalanche rescues.  The Avalanche 
Crisis Center also monitors radiation levels, earthquake 
activity, flooding and flash floods, wildfires and 
mountain rescues. Authorities seemed to have significant 
funding for their programs.  They have made detailed 
plans to deal with catastrophic events, including 
training, equipment pre-positioning and regular 
maintenance and monitoring. The personal contacts 
established by this visit with further enhance our 
ability to deal effectively with disasters in this 
region. The RSO also took the opportunity to pay a call 
on the head of Landesamt fr Verfassungsschutz und 
Terrorismusbek?pfung (LVT) Dr. Spoer who is in charge of 
the protection of visiting VIP's and all counter 
terrorism activities in this region of Austria.   End 
Summary. 
 
2.  A state of about 600,000 inhabitants, Tyrol has more 
than 40 million hotel over-nights a year, and is a major 
tourist destination for both winter sports and summer 
vacations.  The Inn Valley, which cuts through Tyrol, is 
one of the major transit routes for North-South travel in 
Europe. Sixty percent of Austrian avalanche deaths occur 
in Tyrol, a reflection of the percentage of tourism it 
receives.  The Consular Section has only a few Amcits 
registered as living in Tyrol, but some U.S. companies, 
such as Motorola, are located in the state.  We estimate 
that in the peak months of July and August, over 24,000 
Americans may be present in Austria on any given day, 
many of them in the Tyrolean Alps. 
 
3.  ConGen and RSO had requested briefings on several 
topics, including preparations for tunnel fires.  State 
fire fighting authorities gave us a tour of the 3-year 
old fire-fighting institute in Telfs, where they have 
built a tunnel for training fire fighters on both train 
and automotive tunnels.  They estimate the chances of a 
train tunnel fire to be very low, especially as train 
engineers are taught to pull through the tunnel at all 
costs before stopping.  Their focus is therefore on 
automotive tunnels, of which there are many in this 
alpine state. 
 
4.  All fire fighters except those in the capital city of 
Innsbruck are volunteers.  Every one of the Tyrolean 
municipalities that has a tunnel entrance in its district 
receives special training specifically on tunnel fires. 
Special equipment for entering and remaining in tunnels 
for up to 4 hours has been pre-positioned in these 
communities.  The equipment is tested annually.  Newer 
tunnels have exits every 50 meters, taking pedestrian to 
safe areas.  They also have oxygen detectors to alert the 
local fire station to possible fires.  Since Austrian 
entry into the EU, Tyrolean authorities no longer know 
what hazardous cargo may be transported through the 
state, so they train for various kinds of fires and 
conditions. 
 
5.  The Avalanche Crisis Center in Innsbruck monitors the 
slopes through 80 different automatic weather stations 
located both on peaks and on the slopes, checking the 
snow depth, slope conditions and wind speeds.  The staff 
then issues a warning level for the day, and broadcasts 
on the radio by 0735 every morning from November to 
April.  They also update the center's website, send text 
messages, email a list-server and fax warnings to 
subscribers.  A map a www.lawine.at shows the degree of 
slope of every ski slope as well as the warning level for 
each slope every day during the snow season.  The public 
is invited to contact the Center by email with comments 
on back-country conditions.  The staff also makes 150 
trips to the slopes a year to monitor snow conditions. 
 
6.  According to the center's staff, up to 85 per cent of 
avalanche deaths are avoidable.  They usually occur when 
skiers or snowboards ignore posted warnings and attempt 
to use slopes which are steeper than 35 degrees when 
warning levels are above level 3 on a 5 point scale.  The 
worst avalanche conditions occur in March, when 
fatalities are also the highest, but hundreds of 
avalanches of varying sizes occur on Tyrolean slopes 
every day between November and April. The popularity of 
extreme sports has led to an increase of adventurers 
going off-piste or into remote areas, with a resulting 
increase in avalanche fatalities.  Avalanche victims may 
be charged for the rescue costs in sports-related 
rescues. State prosecutors may bring criminal charges 
against people who cause avalanches that endanger lives. 
 
7.  There are 17 helicopter rescue companies operating in 
Tyrol.  Every municipality that could be affected by an 
avalanche must have an alarm plan as well as a rescue 
plan. Each mayor heads the local crisis team. Local 
authorities are charged with determining when the ski 
slopes should close due to avalanche threat, and may also 
close roads for the short or long term based on the 
threat level.  There is a mountain rescue unit for every 
municipality which works with local military offices to 
conduct rescues throughout the year. 
 
8.  As Tyrol's only 24-hour, 7-day crisis center, the 
Avalanche Crisis Center has taken on other duties as 
well.  For instance, it monitors earthquake activity, 
which results from the African Plate meeting the European 
Plate in the Inn Valley.  It also monitors radiation 
levels throughout the state.  It can activate 1000 sirens 
located in the 279 municipalities throughout the state in 
order to alert people to threats.  These sirens are 
tested monthly.  The sirens signal the local population 
to check radio and television for warnings regarding 
flash floods, high water, wild fires and other 
catastrophes.  Recently the Center was tasked with 
serving as the call center for Tyrolean families wanting 
information about relatives caught up in the tsunamis in 
the Indian Ocean region.  Center staff have been issued 
specially made Motorola cell phones that provide them 
with by-the-minute information on weather conditions, 
slope conditions and other useful information from the 
internet. 
 
9.  Embassy Comment: The Tyrolean authorities we met were 
definitely pleased by the Embassy interest and eager to 
answer our questions.  They were satisfied with the 
support they received from the state government and felt 
they had adequate resources.  They appear to have planned 
in detail for a wide range of catastrophes and mass 
casualties.  They train continuously and test equipment 
often.  They use many different means to alert the public 
to potential dangers, including the internet, emails, and 
text messaging.  This trip expands on the personal 
contacts that already exist between our local staff and 
the Tyrolean authorities.  Meeting the relevant 
authorities and showing the USG's interest will certainly 
pay off when we need to respond to disasters in Tyrol, 
and has already facilitated communication in individual 
cases. End Comment. Brown