Civil Protection; Public Alert

Description

If a warning message transmitted via a specific warning medium (such as television, radio, or a smartphone) goes unnoticed by someone in the danger zone, or if a warning medium fails, warnings are simultaneously issued via a variety of other warning media (such as city information boards, warning apps, loudspeaker trucks, and websites). The more warning systems included in the warning mix, the greater the likelihood that a warning message will reach people in Bavaria.

Furthermore, the mix of warning systems allows alerts to be transmitted in various ways. When used together, the individual warning systems complement one another. For example, while a siren can broadcast a warning loudly, it can only produce a limited sequence of signals. In contrast, the information content of an alert in a warning app or on the radio is significantly higher. It is precisely the critical initial recommendations for action—such as how those affected can protect themselves from a danger in the first moment—that can only be conveyed through these channels. And finally, warnings can thus be disseminated through acoustic, visual, and haptic means (e.g., a smartphone’s vibration alert).

To issue general warnings to the public, safety and disaster management authorities rely in particular on the following means:

• Official hazard announcements and hazard alerts via broadcast media,
• sirens, which can also broadcast the signal “Turn on your radio and listen for announcements,”
• cell broadcast,
• alert apps.

Radio Announcements

In the event of disasters, other incidents falling below the disaster threshold, large-scale emergency situations, or false siren activations, it may become necessary to warn and inform the public on a regional scale. For this reason, safety and disaster management authorities, as well as the Bavarian Police, can initiate announcements over the radio via a defined procedure; subtitles on television are also possible.

Broadcast announcements are divided into official hazard announcements, which are broadcast immediately and verbatim by radio stations, and hazard bulletins, which provide information at the earliest possible opportunity (e.g., in the news) to provide information about anticipated hazards, damage situations, and, where applicable, expected consequences.

Official hazard announcements or hazard bulletins may be issued by the security and disaster management authorities —in some cases in coordination with the Integrated Control Centers—via the Federal Modular Warning System (MoWaS) as well as through the Bavarian Police Operations Centers to the radio stations connected to the Traffic Warning Service. In the case of warnings regarding wildfire danger or severe weather, these are issued directly by the German Weather Service to the radio stations.

Sirens

Sirens are also used to warn the public, primarily in areas or near facilities posing a particular risk.

Bavaria has defined the meanings of the siren signals used in the state through the Ordinance on Public Audible Signals. The most important siren signals are

• the alarm for fires and other emergencies, which is used to alert fire department emergency response teams.
  Signal: Three tones of equal pitch (continuous tones), each lasting twelve seconds, with a twelve-second pause between each tone. 
  _ _ _

• the alarm intended to prompt the public to listen for radio announcements in the event of serious threats to public safety. 
  Signal: A wailing tone that rises and falls in pitch, lasting one minute. 
  
  ~ ~ ~

• To signal that the danger has passed.
  Signal: a continuous tone lasting one minute. 
  
  ___

In areas where sirens are used to warn the public, residents are generally informed from time to time—through brochures or on the websites of the relevant authorities—about the siren signals and their meanings. In addition, a standardized statewide test alarm takes place annually in the first half of the year (the second Thursday in March), and the nationwide Warning Day takes place in the second half of the year (the second Thursday in September), in which any municipality with the appropriate sirens can participate. In addition to 

test the system’s functionality, also to inform the public about the significance of warning messages in general, and specifically about the siren signal as a precursor to radio announcements.

Cell Broadcast

Cell Broadcast uses the signaling channels of the cellular network to transmit messages. Individual addressing is not necessary. Warnings are sent from the antenna—like a broadcast signal—to all devices registered in the cellular cell and are received by them. Cell Broadcast significantly increases the alert’s impact. An alert at Alert Level 1 (highest danger) triggers an audible alert even on smartphones set to silent mode, prompting a response to the alert.

The advantage here is that all individuals in a given area who are carrying a mobile device configured and ready to receive such alerts can be reached anonymously as recipients of an alert. In the event of a hazard, all individuals within the affected cell who are carrying a mobile device that has been preconfigured for this purpose and is ready to receive signals will receive an alert in the form of a cell broadcast message on their mobile device (see: related links).

In addition to radio announcements and sirens, loudspeaker vehicles, digital city information boards, passenger information systems, and smartphone apps are also used to alert the public.