Today 5000 sirens are tested
To ensure reliable alerting of the population, sirens are tested annually. On Wednesday, February 3, siren tests will once again take place throughout Switzerland. The Alertswiss channels will also be tested.
Today, Wednesday, 5000 alarm systems will be tested throughout Switzerland. As in the last two years, the "Alertswiss" channels have been tested. According to the FOCP, the number of mobile siren users has recently risen to 680,000. There are around 5000 sirens for the general alarm throughout Switzerland. According to the Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP), 2200 additional mobile sirens reach the entire population in Switzerland.
Triggered, according to the communication about the sirens at 13:30 is the sign "General alarm", a regular ascending and descending wail of one minute duration. If necessary, the siren test can continue until 14:00. In parallel, each canton disseminates an information message via "Alertswiss". In the near zones below dams, the water alarm is tested from 14:15 until 15:00 at the latest. The signal consists of twelve low continuous tones of 20 seconds each at intervals of ten seconds.
The use of mobile sirens on pre-planned routes will not be tested this year. This is intended to relieve the burden on civil protection personnel, who are heavily involved in pandemic response.
More Alertswiss users
The number of users of Alertswiss has also increased steadily in recent times, writes the FOCP. While the Alertswiss app had 490,000 active users in February 2020, the number rose by 40 percent to 680,000 during the pandemic.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Alertswiss proves to be of good service with differentiated information, such as the publication of rules of conduct or of valid pandemic measures in the cantons. Parallel to the first triggering of the general siren alarm, an information message is triggered on cell phones on February 3, 2021.
Source: Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP
