JEDDAH, 22 December 2002 — The emergency alarm system was put to the test throughout the Kingdom at noon yesterday.
Sirens were supposed to have rung out all over but very few people surveyed by Arab News actually heard them blaring.
Despite announcements in the media, those who did hear the sirens were caught by surprise. But, those who actually heard the warning tones did not count many.
Gehan Abdulaziz of Riyadh told Arab News: “I did not hear anything at all. I remember during the Gulf War in 1991, more people were actually notified by way of telephone calls from relatives who could hear the sirens than those who could hear them for themselves. The sirens at the time were so commonplace that we became used to them.”
Gehan said she had heard nothing of the warnings in the press , and did not hear the actual test today. “This is a very ominous surprise. What sirens? Does this mean that war is imminent,” she asked.
Rudy Rujilio, a cook at Nora Restaurant in Al-Balad District in Jeddah said: “I heard the sirens for about 10 minutes at noon today. They were barely audible over the din of the crowd. No one really seemed to notice. At first I didn’t know what the sound was, but I remembered the false alarm we had in Jeddah during the Gulf War and I thought that was what it was. It did not really scare me.”
Asem Shaar told Arab News: “I drove from the Al-Hamra District in Jeddah all the way to the Hilton Hotel on the Corniche looking for the actual siren equipment just to see how many I could find, and could not find a single one. The only one I know of is near the Pepsi bridge at Tahlia Street.”
Businesses at the Danube shopping center did not hear anything, either. Several employees were interviewed by Arab News, and they all expressed surprise and concern. Mutlaq Khan said: “I expected to hear something and actually came outside my store, but heard absolutely nothing. Imagine it happening in a real situation.”
Others had suggestions such as combining the emergency notification sirens with announcements over the television and radio.
All those interviewed by this reporter who did not hear the sirens today, despite being out and about, expressed great concern. Abdul Razaq Mohey El-Din, an Egyptian laborer, asked: “What’s the use of having an emergency broadcast system, if no one hears it?”
