Normally, it’s a sound we hear just once a year, on 13 December that is the anniversary of the start of the Nanjing Massacre. Not 2022, as this weekend will witness the cry of the city’s air-raid sirens as a test for if the unthinkable ever happens.
This Sunday, 18 September, our city will conduct drills of the city’s various types of warnings with regard to attacks by enemy powers.
The public should be assured that these are only tests and that no one should be alarmed in any way.
That said, as we know from our experience each December, it sure does make one feel a little on edge.
Three different warnings shall be tested on Sunday, the Yangtze Evening News has reported.
First shall be the alarm notifying that an attack on our city is possibly imminent. The sirens shall wail for 6 seconds at intervals of 6 seconds, for a period a 15 cycles lasting 3 minutes.
Second comes the warning no one wants to ever hear; evacuate or take cover. In this case, the alarm will sound for 36 seconds and pause for 24 seconds, in a cycle which will then be repeated twice, again lasting a total of 3 minutes.
For the record, were this ever to happen, the Nanjing public is expected to take shelter in one of the many underground air-raid shelters in our city. These are all signposted as per the image below. Underground car parks equipped with bomb-proof doors may also be used for the purpose.
In the final test, the sirens will blare continuously for a 3-minute period. This particular alarm is intended to inform citizens that a particular threat has now passed, i.e. it is safe to come out of hiding. Those familiar with such matters may also refer to this as the “all clear”.
Once again, The Nanjinger stresses there shall be no cause for any concern, other than the sirens potentially disrupting a well-earned, Sunday-morning lie in.
