Austria to test sirens and mobile alerts on Saturday

Austria will hold its annual civil protection alarm test on Saturday, checking 2,450 sirens in Lower Austria and sending test alerts to mobile phones, ORF reported.

The siren test begins at noon with a 15-second signal. At 12.15 p.m., a three-minute steady tone will signal a warning. At 12.30 p.m., a rising and falling tone lasting about one minute will indicate an alarm. The all-clear will sound at 12.45 p.m. as a steady one-minute tone.

The test checks the warning system and helps the public recognise the different signals. There is no danger on Saturday. In a real emergency, people should follow information from radio, television or other official channels. The protective measures needed depend on the specific danger.

AT-Alert will also be tested. The Interior Ministry will send a test message nationwide at noon, followed at 12.45 p.m. by messages from the warning centres in each of Austria’s nine federal states. People in border regions may also receive a test alert from a neighbouring state.

The mobile warning system lets authorities send regional or nationwide alerts to phones in an affected area. It can be used for events such as extreme weather, natural disasters, possible flooding or forest fires. During Saturday’s test, phones will sound an alert even if they are set to silent, and the screen will identify the message as a test.

Last year, 99.71 per cent of Lower Austria’s 2,450 sirens worked properly, while seven had partial failures. Across Austria, 8,327 of the 8,364 sirens tested worked properly, a rate of 99.56 per cent. The nationwide test has been held on the first Saturday in October each year since 1998.