Switzerland's national interests

Switzerland's national interests determine the civil protection security policy mission. Article 2 of the Federal Constitution clearly states that the Swiss Confederation protects the freedom and the rights of the people, and the independence and security of the country. This includes fostering the common good, and the internal cohesion and cultural variety of the country, promoting equal opportunities for the citizens wherever possible, and ensuring the sustainable conservation of vital resources.

Civil protection mission and tasks

The mission of civil protection is to protect the population and its vital resources in the event of disasters, emergencies and armed conflict. Civil protection provides management, protection, rescue and relief, and contributes to limiting damage and coping with it. To fulfil its mission, civil protection assumes the following tasks:

• It ensures that the public is informed of hazards, protective possibilities and measures
• It warns and alerts the population, and issues instructions on how it should act
• It provides management
• It coordinates the preparations and deployment of the partner organisation
• It ensures readiness appropriate to the time and situation, and 'build-up' when required

Disasters, emergencies, terrorist attacks

Disasters, emergencies, terrorist attacks: these are the main hazards Switzerland faces today. Due to our modern and high-tech society, they can cause even greater damage than before. Their likelihood of occurrence is nevertheless high and may appear without any or only a brief prior warning period. The technical risk report 2015 documents the results of the analysis that were carried since the start of the analysis in 2011. It contains the risk diagrams which relate the risk of the 33 analysed disaster and emergency scenarios to one another.