Germany - Terrorism

Recent world events have caused security to be stepped up at airports and at public facilities in case of a terrorist attack. As far as day-to-day life is concerned, these additional security measures have gone virtually unnoticed.

Airport security is very strict. As with everywhere, you may not carry anything that could even remotely be considered a blade or weapon when boarding a plane. Even checked luggage is X-ray examined before you are allowed to check in. The metal detectors you must walk through are very sensitive and if you set the machine off the personnel holding the hand-held scanners are most thorough to the point of being rough and invasive.

Heads of public utilities are aware of potential attacks and have set security accordingly.

Any catastrophe caused by terrorist activities will be dealt with by governmental authorities and/or the military, which, they assure us, are fully equipped to do so. The Red Cross is in the process of upgrading its hardware and giving additional training to its staff in order to deal with a large-scale catastrophe.