Sirens and Alertswiss are being tested today

On the first Wednesday of every February, sirens throughout Switzerland are tested to ensure they are ready for operation.

In 2026, the siren test will be carried out on February 4 between 1.30 and 4.30 pm.

The sirens are triggered at 1.30 p.m. by the general alarm signal, a regular ascending and descending wailing tone lasting one minute. If necessary, the siren test can be repeated until 2.00 pm.

The water alarm is tested from 2.00 p.m. until 4.30 p.m. at the latest in the near zones below dams. The signal consists of twelve low continuous tones of 20 seconds each at intervals of 10 seconds.

Message via Alertswiss app

Parallel to the triggering of the general siren alarm, each canton and the Principality of Liechtenstein triggers an information-level message via the Alertswiss app. This checks the sending of a very large number of push messages; at the same time, the information message is intended to ensure that the siren test is not mistaken for a real alarm.

Solve messages at the Information level none Siren sound on the smartphone. The triggering of this alarm tone is reserved for real alarms.

What happens in the event of a real alarm?

If the general alarm sounds outside of an announced siren test, this means that the population is at risk. In this case, the population is requested to register via the Alertswiss app or website (www.alert.swiss) or listen to the radio, follow the instructions of the authorities and inform the neighbors.

The water alarm means that there is an immediate danger downstream of a dam. In this case, the population is requested to leave the endangered area immediately.

Further information and recommendations can be found on the FOCP website, on the Alertswiss website and on pages 680 and 681 of the teletext of the SRG broadcasters.

The Alertswiss app is available for the Android and iOS operating systems. It can be downloaded free of charge from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

Check your personal provision

The FOCP recommends that the public take the siren test as an opportunity to review their personal precautions. This includes above all

• Installing the Alertswiss app on all your mobile devices so that you can receive relevant notifications from the authorities in the event of an incident.
• Completing or reviewing an emergency plan for yourself and/or your family (emergency plan available on the Alertswiss website or app).
• Creating or checking your own emergency stockpile, for example with the emergency stockpile calculator of the Federal Office for National Economic Supply (www.notvorratsrechner.bwl.admin.ch) and the accompanying brochure, which is available in the online store of the Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics (FOBL).
• For people who live less than 50 km from a nuclear power plant (area under www.jodtabletten.ch retrievable): Check whether the iodine tablets last issued by the authorities in fall 2023 are still available in the household. If they are lost, you can contact the Iodine Tablets Office. For people who live more than 50 km away from a nuclear power plant, the iodine tablets are stored by the cantons and distributed in an emergency.

Updating the Alertswiss app

The Alertswiss app is constantly being further developed to meet increasing requirements and to fulfill its role as an information hub that can save lives in the event of an incident. Emergency meeting points (NTPs) are available to the public in the event of major incidents. They are activated by the authorities, who inform the public as soon as the NTPs are operational. Their location is shown on a map that can be called up in the new version of the Alertswiss app. The FOCP recommends keeping the Alertswiss app up to date so that new functions can also be used and smooth alerting is guaranteed.

Since its launch in October 2018, the Alertswiss app has been installed on more than 2.3 million devices. The authorities use it to publish around 300 incident reports per year.

Source: FOCP