[SystemSafety] Sirens and Suchlike

[Peter Bernard Ladkin]

In February I gave a talk at SSS'22 on the July floods in the Eifel. One theme was how information 
was (in this case largely was not) delivered to the vulnerable in time. Those who saw my talk may 
remember my communications chart - how it is and how it could be.

Things have happened. I believe the feds (BBK - Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster 
Assistance they call themselves in English) now have better connections to the lower administrative 
government; they don't have to go through the state government first (Germany is a federation of 16 
states, of which three are cities - Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen) -- but I am not sure how that all 
works (if it does).

Another is that my state has been installing sirens. There are three signals - warning, all-clear, 
and fire. The fire call is for the volunteer fire brigade. There is a station about 2km as the crow 
flies from us and we hear them every so often. But there was a state-wide general test warning set 
for 1100 today. I had my office window open and was almost blasted out of the room. Bielefeld has 
installed 60 of a planned 114 new sirens, and it turns out one of them is mounted on top of a 
building about 70m away. I hadn't noticed it until today at 1100.

They are satellite-controlled. The idea is supposed to be that you turn on your radio or TV, or look 
at your smartphone if you have an app installed (there are two government-supported warning apps, 
called NINA and WarnApp). Pretty cool! We're almost back to the 1940's and 1950's! A great improvement.

I guess I am assuming they are battery-driven. Maybe I should check.

Seriously, though, there are places which could really use such a system (which could have used such 
a system last year). People in river valleys, or living downstream from a dam. People living near 
forested areas in which a fire might break out (I guess after this very dry season I count as one). 
It has to be integrated with sensors and other warning devices, of course, and as we know it is 
non-trivial to do such things reliably, especially since in most cases the experience of such rare 
events is lacking.

However, I doubt such a system can displace firemen and police going around knocking on doors and 
telling people they have to leave. It is well known that many people won't, no matter what, and 
firemen and police are more persuasive than some smartphone app (assuming one can use a smartphone). 
However, if the siren is shrieking at the same time as the nice fireman is telling you you really 
have to leave, it might be more convincing.

PBL

Prof. i.R. Dr. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Bielefeld, Germany
Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs-bi.de




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