Status: 08.12.2022 2:40 p.m
“Technical infrastructure robust”: According to the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, today’s warning day was successful. The new system that alerted millions of mobile devices worked.
According to a preliminary assessment by the authorities, the nationwide test alarm on the nationwide warning day was successful. “The test warning showed that our technical infrastructure is robust and that the technical problems of the past have been resolved,” said Ralph Tiesler, President of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK). The interaction of the systems worked.
However, it is still too early for “final results”.
In the morning, the BBK had triggered a previously announced nationwide alarm to test the warning systems in the event of a disaster. At 11:00 a.m., a corresponding official test warning message was sent, which was then distributed, among other things, via the cell broadcast system used for the first time as a message for mobile phones, via warning apps and the media. At 11:45 the all clear was given.
In numerous cities, the test messages were also displayed on billboards in the cityscape or sirens were triggered. The warning day is intended to subject the processes of the nationwide alarm structures to a practical test and to sensitize the population to the topic of civil protection.
The first warning day failed
There were many problems on the first nationwide warning day on September 10, 2020. Among other things, the message from the warning apps Nina and Katwarn only arrived on the smartphones a good half hour late. If it had actually been an emergency, many citizens would not have noticed. The Federal Ministry of the Interior had therefore described the test alarm as “failed”.
The breakdown and the experiences during the devastating flood disaster in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia in July 2021 led to organizational and technical improvements.
Use of the cell broadcast system was successful
Among other things, the cell broadcast system was set up to send mass messages directly to mobile phones without having to install a special app beforehand. BKK boss Tiesler spoke of a successful course with regard to the new system. “The intensive work on introducing the new warning channel and hardening the existing infrastructure has paid off,” he said.