Newly created National Warning Day would be observed every year on September 10th
Imagine thousands of sirens blaring loud at the same time! One would for sure think that things are not right somewhere and would gear up to safeguard self and family.
That was exactly the thought behind the nationwide testing of civil alarm systems conducted by Federal Office for Protection and Disaster Relief, Germany on 10th September. Such test has been conducted for the first time since the end of the Cold War. At 11am, along with the wailing sirens, emergency push notifications were sent on people’s smartphones and warning messages were displayed on digital billboards. This exercise continued for around 20 min. The state authorities had given an advance intimation to the schools, care centers, and shelters for asylum-seeker to prevent any panic.
As per laid out guidelines, the tone of the siren would help the country’s residents to identify nature of the situation- whether it is a start or an end of an emergency.
Though the test had few flaws as either all alarm systems did not work or there were delays in sending out push notification due to overload, however it did help in sensitizing the residents about what to do in case national emergency, and in technical testing of the warning systems across the country.