An Eye-Opening Guide To Switzerland's Ear-Splitting Sirens
(MENAFN- Swissinfo)
Every year, on the first Wednesday in February, the sound of 7,200 sirens dotted around Switzerland fills the air, startling anyone who doesn't realise it's a test. But would you know what to do if it was for real?
This content was published on
February 1, 2025 - 11:00
9 minutes
Born in London, Thomas was a journalist at The Independent before moving to Bern in 2005. He speaks all three official Swiss languages and enjoys travelling the country and practising them, above all in pubs, restaurants and gelaterias.
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The first time I heard the sirens being tested, I was confused and mildly concerned. I coolly looked around the office, and it was only when I saw a colleague looking at his watch and nodding that I slowly worked out what was happening.
Embarrassingly, I'd missed the reminders in the media that every siren in Switzerland would be going off at 1.30pm. Twenty years later, I still find the first few seconds rather disconcerting.
“The general public is not required to respond in a particular way or take protective measures but is simply requested in advance to excuse the inconvenience caused by the noise of the sirens,” the Federal Office for Civil ProtectionExternal link (FOCP) says in a charmingly courteous Swiss manner.
Here's a popular advert made by the FOCP to raise awareness of the siren test (with a nod to the classic video artwork Der Lauf der DingeExternal link /The Way Things Go by Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss).
External Content
Almost every country in the world uses localised sirens to warn its citizens of some impending danger, whether it's invasion, rocket attacks, nuclear accidents or natural disasters (tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes, earthquakes). Switzerland's 5,000 stationary and 2,200 mobile sirens make up one of the broadest national networks of civil defence sirens in the world.
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