Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – On the nationwide warning day this Thursday, the sirens will also wail in North Rhine-Westphalia from 11 a.m. On the day of action, the various warning devices will be tested in a joint exercise, including digital display boards, loudspeaker vehicles, warning apps or reports on radio and television, as NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) announced. Nobody should panic, the test warning is for safety, Reul said before the second warning day. “Only those who practice regularly know which cogs have to mesh and recognize where there is still a problem.” The all-clear should be given at 11:45 a.m.
In an emergency, an optimal warning of the population via as many different ways and channels as possible is required. The flood disaster in the summer of 2021 showed how important this is. At that time, some people in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate were not warned in good time of the approaching water masses. Sometimes the evacuation was too late, sometimes residents refused to leave their homes because they underestimated the extent of the disaster. A few things went wrong on the first nationwide warning day on September 10, 2020, and the Federal Ministry of the Interior described the test alarm as “failed”.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, there are now almost 5,700 sirens in NRW – in 2017 there were only around 4,200. Participation in the warning day is voluntary for the municipalities. The NRW districts are taking part in the campaign, as the district council announced. The test alarm should also increase public awareness of the acoustic signals so that everyone knows what the siren sounds mean in an emergency.
A rising and falling continuous tone means “warning”, a continuous tone “all clear”, according to the municipal umbrella organization, which represents 31 districts with eleven million inhabitants. A continuous tone, which is interrupted twice, serves to alert the fire brigade.
At 11:00 a.m., the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) sends a test warning via the federal modular warning system (MoWaS) to all warning multipliers such as radio and TV stations, which then pass it on to the population. The BBK (Bonn) also triggers warnings directly, for example via the NINA warning app. For the first time, a notification via the new Cell Broadcast warning channel should also be tested – then directly as information on many cell phones. However, older devices often cannot receive them.
