Around 99 percent of sirens in Switzerland sound perfectly
Published: Wednesday, Feb 7th 2024, 18:00
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99% of the stationary sirens in Switzerland worked perfectly during the annual tests on Wednesday. The information messages via the Alertswiss app were also triggered as hoped. In total, over 14 million push messages were sent, as announced by the Federal Office for Civil Protection (Babs) following the tests.
At 1.30 p.m., almost all of Switzerland's more than 5,000 stationary sirens sounded. In the past two years, 99% of all systems throughout Switzerland passed the emergency test. In 2021 it was 98 percent.
"By testing the sirens annually and repairing them if necessary, it is possible to maintain the high functionality of the system," said a Babs spokesperson at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. In the cantons of Zug and Basel-Stadt, for example, all sirens in operation worked perfectly during the most recent test. In Zurich and Solothurn, 99 percent of the stationary sirens sounded.
No detailed analysis of the approximately 2,200 mobile sirens in use was available early on Wednesday evening. According to Babs, the latter are used to supplement the siren network, particularly in sparsely populated areas or when stationary sirens fail.
A comprehensive network
Around 600 stationary sirens are also used simultaneously in the event of a water alarm. The stationary sirens can now be triggered centrally via a remote control (Polyalert), usually by the cantonal police. According to the relevant ordinance, faulty sirens must be replaced by the authorities within two months of the fault being detected.
The fact that Switzerland has a nationwide siren network at all is not a matter of course. Germany has done without one since 1993 - for cost reasons and because the security situation changed with the end of the Cold War.
In Switzerland, however, there is no question of abandoning the nationwide siren network. According to Babs, sirens are significantly more fail-safe than other alerting systems and in some cases do not require electricity.
In the event of a real siren alarm, the population is called upon to "listen to the radio, follow the instructions of the authorities and inform the neighbors", according to the Babs website.
©Keystone/SDA
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