Back Zivilschutz (Schweiz) German Protection civile en Suisse French Protezione civile (Svizzera) Italian
| (in German) Zivilschutz (in French) Protection civile (in Italian) Protezione civile | |
 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Federal administration of Switzerland |
| Status | Assistance, Pioneering, Driving assistance, Rescue, Support |
| Headquarters | Switzerland |
| Parent department | Federal Office for Civil Protection |
| Website | http://www.protectioncivile.ch/ |
Civil Protection in Switzerland (CP) (German: Zivilschutz, ZS; Italian: Protezione civile, PC; French: Protection civile, PCi[1]) is a body organized into 26 cantonal divisions,[2] whose aim is to provide assistance to the population in the event of disasters or other harmful events. It is one of the five pillars of civil protection, alongside the fire department, police, technical services, and health services (ambulances, hospitals, etc.). The management of these divisions is the responsibility of the cantons.
The cantonal divisions are subdivided into "OPC" (communal) civil protection organizations and "ORPC" (regional) civil protection organizations. A region, as defined by the CP, is a grouping of communes. This type of organization is found particularly in rural areas, where the budget and number of personnel are too limited for a single commune.
The CP comprises five different areas: assistance to leadership (including telematics, situation monitoring and Atomic-Bacteria-Chemics protection - ABC protection[3]), assistance, support, protection of cultural property (PBC) and logistics.
- ^ Note: The abbreviation PCi (civil protection), with a lower-case "i", was chosen to avoid confusion with the all-caps term PCI, which stands for "intervention command post".
- ^ Swiss Confederation. "Les offices cantonaux responsables de la protection civile". Protection de la Population (in French). Archived from the original on June 18, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Note: "ABC" stands for atomic, bacteriological and chemical. From then on, we can have the abbreviations "A", "AC", etc. There is also the abbreviation "N" for nuclear (replacing "A"), which gives the acronym "NBC", used more frequently in the army.