2024-09-13 17:02:17
Once a year, sirens sound all over Germany, even though nothing has happened: on National Alert Day. At 11 a.m. today, it happened again – this is what was behind it.
A test alarm caused cell phones and sirens to ring, howl and buzz across Germany today on the nationwide warning day. The warning, which was announced for around 11 a.m., was triggered by the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) in Bonn.
Citizens would then receive a warning message on their mobile phones via the Cell Broadcast System. The test alarm was then also broadcast via radio and television stations and on city information boards.
The warning concert began with the BBK’s test warning via the modular warning system. Numerous warning systems are linked to it, such as the Nina warning app or the cell phone warning via the Cell Broadcast cell phone warning system.
At the same time, the participating federal states and municipalities took care to activate the other warning devices, such as sirens. At 11:45 a.m., another message was given to give the all-clear to citizens.
Cell broadcast alerts are enabled by default on Apple devices. You can set different levels of urgency in Settings > Notifications in the “Official Alerts” section (scroll all the way down).
Here, “test warnings” are often deactivated – but the warning on the warning day is sent with the highest level of urgency as a real warning and is therefore not affected by this setting. All iPhones from 6s or newer are supported.
The BKK also offers manufacturer-specific instructions on its website. Click on the “+” behind the question “Where can I find information from the manufacturer on how to set up Cell Broadcast on my device?” and select your cell phone manufacturer.
Last year, the test warning on the warning day was issued in the same way. According to an analysis by the BKK, over 90 percent of those surveyed received at least one test warning, and the vast majority even received it via two or more channels. In addition, the warning was issued promptly at 11 a.m. for most of those surveyed.
The analysis also shows which channels were the most successful: almost 54 percent of respondents said they had received a warning via cell broadcast, i.e. via the mobile phone warning system. This was closely followed by warning apps (50.8 percent) and sirens (47.9 percent).
Radio follows with almost ten percent, while TV, social media and websites rank well behind in single digits.
Accordingly, cell broadcasts, siren signals and warning apps also performed best among those surveyed: a clear majority of them described these three channels as “very useful”.