Do not panic! Today is the siren test: what to do in an emergency

You don’t think anything bad and suddenly the crying starts. The unpleasant howling sound is difficult to ignore. It’s another siren test.

But what should the population do in case of emergency? And how many sirens are there actually? All information about it here:

As a rule, authorities test the siren alarm in Switzerland on the first Wednesday of February. Why? In fact, information about this has been lost over the years. It seemed useful to carry out the test on a normal working day and not on a weekend, so that the relevant departments of the Federal Office for Civil Protection (BABS) were complete. Wednesday afternoon is also suitable because school lessons are not disrupted.

In total, authorities use approximately 7,200 sirens to warn the population of danger. In places with more than 100 inhabitants, these are mounted on the roofs of buildings. To reach people living in isolation, more than 2,000 mobile sirens are available. These are mounted on police or fire vehicles. The sirens are designed in such a way that they all sound the alarm within a radius of approximately 2,000 meters.

The functionality of the alarm is quite good. On average, about two percent of all sirens have problems; that’s about 140. Last year, 99 percent of all alarms worked. If you do not hear a siren during the test, please contact your cantonal civil protection office.

There are basically two types of sirens in Switzerland: the more modern, electronic type and the older, pneumatic type. The electronic siren works via speakers and amplifiers. The pneumatic one, on the other hand, produces the howling sound using compressed air stored on site.

In principle, the federal government can only sound sirens to warn the population in the event of increased radioactivity. The red button would then be pressed by the National Emergency Center (NAZ). However, the cantons themselves are responsible for responding to threats. They are instructed to only sound the sirens when the lives of many are in danger.

This threat to the population can arise from a terrorist attack, a storm or a chemical accident. There is also a separate alarm for flooding, when the water alarm sounds.

The rules in the event of an emergency are simple: turn on the radio or consult the warning app, follow the instructions of the authorities and inform the neighbors. If there is a water alarm, leave the area immediately and seek higher ground.

The BABS contradicts this accusation from the population. Although the Alertswiss alert app has been around since 2018, various alert channels are still used. “For example, for visually impaired people or people without modern means of communication, alarms will remain useful and necessary in the future,” the Federal Office writes on its website.

> You can download the app for your smartphone here

The cantons themselves are responsible for activating and maintaining the alarms. Although the BABS coordinates the annual siren test at the federal level and tests the sirens for functionality, they are used in the cantons and municipalities. The water alarm is activated by those responsible for the dams.

The first national test was conducted in the 1970s. From 1982 to 1990 it even took place twice a year. Then the loudspeakers blared not only in February, but also in September. However, the construction of the siren network started before the Second World War and dates back to the air raid siren regulation of September 18, 1936. The population must be protected from disasters and informed about protective measures.

The history of warning the population goes back even further. Pneumatic sirens have been used since 1962 and electronic sirens since 1983. Since 2015, everyone has been connected to the Polyalert national network and the Alertswiss warning app has been available in Switzerland since 2018.

This refers to the sheep in a BABS commercial from 2014. This shows the complicated activation procedure for the siren test in the event of an emergency: