Annual test of Swiss emergency sirens a success

Over 5,000 stationary sirens sounded throughout Switzerland on Wednesday. As with last year's siren test, around 99% of the sirens worked perfectly, according to the Swiss government. The sirens sounded between 1.30 pm and 4.30 pm, depending on the location. The sirens sounded the general alert at 1.30 pm, a regular ascending and descending wailing tone lasting one minute. The water alert was also tested from 2.00 pm until 4.30 pm in areas close to dams. The signal consists of twelve low continuous tones of 20 seconds each at intervals of 10 seconds. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The cantons and municipalities are required to repair or replace the defective systems immediately so that they can be maintained at a high level of operational readiness, the Federal Office for Civil Protection announced in the evening following the successful tests. Mobile sirens were also tested in various cantons. These are used to supplement the siren network in sparsely ...