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Editor:
Presscouncil City of Chemnitz
Pressrelease: 330

City of Chemnitz relies on NINA warning app in emergencies

SMS warning service for flood warnings to be discontinued at the end of June

The city of Chemnitz is now using the federal government's emergency information and messaging app - NINA for short. This enables interested parties to receive important civil protection warnings for various hazardous situations, such as evacuations due to the discovery of a bomb, the spread of hazardous substances, a major fire or warnings of flooding on Chemnitz's 1st order rivers.

Weather warnings from the German Weather Service and flood information from the relevant authorities in the federal states are also integrated into the warning app. In addition to the warning function, the NINA warning app also offers basic information and emergency tips on civil protection issues.

All important functions at a glance:

  • Use the "subscription function" to select locations for which you would like to receive warning messages via push notification,
  • All alerts are also available for the current location - regardless of the locations subscribed to,
  • Weather warnings from the DWD also appear as push notifications,
  • All warning messages contain a description of the hazardous situation and recommendations for action. The warning area can be called up on a map,
  • The content of the app is optimised to be read by screen readers for the visually impaired.

The NINA warning app is available for the iOS (version 8.0 or higher) and Android (version 4 or higher) operating systems. It is available free of charge via iTunes and the Google Play Store. For other operating systems, a website is available at www.warnung.bund.de that has been optimised for mobile use and displays the same warnings as the NINA app. Current weather warnings from the German Weather Service (DWD) and flood information from the federal states can also be accessed here. This page has the same functionality as the NINA app.

NINA background
The technical starting point for NINA is the modular warning system of the federal government (MoWaS). This is operated by the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BKK) for nationwide civil defence warnings. Since 2013, all situation centres of the federal states and many already connected control centres of cities and municipalities have also been able to use the warning system. As in the case of the city of Chemnitz, these are usually the fire and rescue control centres that issue warnings for local hazards.

Flood SMS warning service to be discontinued
With the introduction of NINA, the SMS flood warning service for Chemnitz, Würschnitz and Zwönitz will be discontinued at the end of June. Over the next few days, each of the currently around 2,500 registered telephone numbers will be informed of the imminent shutdown by text message and referred to the alternative NINA. The SMS service was introduced in 2013.
With the almost universal use of smartphones today, the distribution of warnings via the app is much more convenient, as more comprehensive information can be transmitted here than by text message.

Further information and instructions on how to set up the app can be found at
www.chemnitz.de/nina