After Grazer Amoflauf – “You can’t be prepared for something like that!”

The crisis intervention team (kit) of the state of Styria has been around for 27 years. Edwin Benko has been part of it for so long. In recent weeks, since the murder of the Graz Gymnasium, have also been a challenge for the veteran.

“You cannot be prepared for such an event. We were well prepared for our many years of experience as a team, but you cannot be prepared,” says the professional director of the team.

14 days in continuous use for humanity
After the Horror Act, the kit was concerned with the care for those who were struck around: “A total of 145 people, of which 70 a day, were used for 14 days in 80 different locations.”

Now it’s time to switch from acute care to long -term care: “Since Monday, the kit has only been to school at school if necessary. This has been agreed with the Education Directorate and the city of Graz. Now there must be people who are different – that is, teachers and classmates,” explains Benko. Now it is important to place it in good hands afterwards and to organize long -term care.

Supervision of emergency services
The team must now process the operation itself: “After a week there was already telephone support from supervisors. Now there are two major agreements for Debriefing, after which there are group supervision and individual lessons for the emergency services,” the team leader said.

Because even if there are always large inserts for the kit, the dimension was very different this time: “The most challenging was to understand this incomprehensible act. But the distribution of the groups, all of whom needed a different kind of support, was also difficult.”

It must also be forgotten that the “normal operation” of the kit is continued parallel to the large -scale operation. During this difficult time, the team also caused people who were hit by other disasters – such as the suicide of a family member.