Swiss flood victims in Germany can apply for emergency aid

People rest from cleaning up the debris of the flood disaster in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, western Germany, on Monday Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

Several thousand Swiss citizens live in parts of Germany hard hit by recent floods and storms. Those who suffered concrete damage can now access a relief fund run by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) in Germany.

“Currently €12,000 (CHF13,000) is available in the relief fund,” Albert Küng, president of the OSA in Germany, told SWI swissinfo.ch on Wednesday.

He explained that the money had been collected in the past and was now being made available for Swiss in Germany “in an uncomplicated way”.

Those affected should get in touch with the organisation’s vice-president Sonja Lengning by mid-August, explaining their situation. The OSA will then transfer €300 directly to the person’s account.

Küng said Swiss people in Switzerland were increasingly keen to donate specifically to other Swiss in need abroad. “This is of course a wonderful signal, and we’re now also getting active in this respect,” he said.

The organisation is collecting donations which will be offered to Swiss people in need via the relief fund (see box on how to donate).

How to donate

Account information:
ASO Deutschland
Subject: Unwetter Juli 2021
IBAN DE31 4035 1060 0072 9039 17
BIC: WELADED1STF

Torrential rains

At the end of last year 24,300 Swiss nationals lived in the German states of Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, for which the consulate general in Frankfurt is responsible. In Germany as a whole the figure was 94,000, based on figures from the Federal Statistical Office.

Last week torrential rains hit Germany, initially mainly the western states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, sweeping away parts of towns and villages. Thunderstorms at the weekend also hit parts of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in the south.

At least 170 people have died in Germany’s worst natural disaster in more than half a century, and thousands were missing.

For immediate relief, the federal government was expected on Wednesday to announce plans to provide €200 million in emergency aid, according to a draft document seen by Reuters. That will come on top of €200 million to be provided from Germany’s 16 federal states to repair buildings and damaged local infrastructure and to help people in crisis situations.

[CORRECTION: A previous version of this article contained wrong bank account information, which we had been given by the OSA in Germany. This has now been corrected.]