[Scarjit]

In germany we now have a "Warntag" [literally "Warn day"], which is scheduled to be once per Year in September.

This is mostly a result of a previous test, which revealed that in case of a catastrophe, most germans would not be warned (Sirens not functioning, cell broadcast was not used, ...)

Sadly the website of our Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance is not translating every page to english. https://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Warnung-Vorsorge/Bundesweiter-War...

[cf141q5325]

>This is mostly a result of a previous test, which revealed that in case of a catastrophe, most germans would not be warned (Sirens not functioning, cell broadcast was not used, ...)

And failed yearly tests being ignored. It took the Ahr flood to actually do something about that.

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/katastrophensc...

[inferiorhuman]

San Francisco used to test their sirens weekly which was frequent enough that both the siren and the incoherent verbal bits just kinda blended into the background.

[somat]

Right, the "familiarity breeds contempt" problem with testing alerts too often.

With sirens it would probably make sense to have a different but similar tone/sequence for tests vs production alerts. Everyone would instinctively know that something was wrong.

Which runs right into the problem that when there is a difference between test and production. production will probably fail. Some days you just can't win. Probably the best compromise would be monthly(I agree weekly might be too much) infrastructure test, with a full blown yearly test/holiday where everything goes to hell for a day as you test actual procedures.

[dredmorbius]

SF's emergency siren system is being upgraded, not retired, though the project is delayed and over budget:

<https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/bayarea/heatherknight/article...>

[bpye]

BC is similar [0], though it’s twice a year.

[0] - https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/public-safety/emer...

[throw0101b]

Also: https://www.alertready.ca/testing-schedule/

[jeffrallen]

Nice documentary about how the Swiss system works:

https://youtu.be/zybgpvd3ExE

:)

[rahkiin]

In the Netherlands we test the systems every first monday of the month.

[Loic]

Also the alert on your mobile phone?