RIYADH: In a crucial move to ensure public safety and emergency preparedness, Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate of Civil Defense conducted fixed siren and phone alert tests on Monday across the Kingdom.
According to the Civil Defense, the test aimed to ensure the efficiency and readiness of warning systems and coincided with a nationwide test of the National Early Warning Platform via cellular broadcasting.
The fixed siren test conducted across the Kingdom aims to ensure that residents are prepared to respond effectively to official emergency alerts.
The schedule for broadcasting warning messages and sounding the sirens was as follows: Warning messages broadcast using a new tone at 1:00 p.m., followed by the national alert tone at 1:10 p.m., and finally, the fixed sirens in Riyadh, Tabuk, Jeddah and Makkah regions at 1:15 p.m.
“These tests conducted by the Civil Defense are vital to ensure readiness against any emergency or contingency that might occur and to make civilians aware of such sirens and their meaning and what to do when they hear them,” Dr. Osama Ghanem Al-Obaidy, adviser and professor of law at the Institute of Public Administration in Riyadh, told Arab News.
