Skip to content

Germany: Warning sirens test in North Rhine-Westphalia state

Warning sirens

News in Germany. Local disaster warning sirens will sound on Thursday 8 September in Germany’s largest federal state North Rhine-Westphalia.

There will be a Warning Day (Warntag) in all cities aimed at raising the awareness on how to behave in an emergency.

Sirens will sound in town halls with red flags taking various forms, more or less modern. Radio and TV broadcasts will be interrupted, and in many places emergency messages will be displayed on digital billboards.

Those who have downloaded the NINA government alert app will receive notifications on their phone. NINA stands for Notfall-Informations-und-Nachrichten-App (information and alarm app).

Each of the messages will contain guidelines for the public on how to behave in the event of a disaster.

Another warning day will take place on December 8, 2022 throughout Germany. On that day, the same text message will be sent to every German citizen. 

“We need to test the new systems so that we can use them precisely afterwards,” says Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.

This will be the first time a test alert message with the highest level of alert will also be sent to all cell phones nationwide.

READ ALSO: Germany: New regulations to reduce energy and gas consumption starting September

Source: rp-online-de