KATWARN - the warning system

Jan. 01, 2009

Is it possible to provide warning information quickly and individually to the public in case of sever danger – and if so, how? KATWARN, developed and operated by Fraunhofer FOKUS on behalf of then public insurance companies, is a warning system that has changed and sustainably enriched the safety infrastructure in Germany and internationally.

As a free service for the public, it informs about relevant threats and provides behavioral advices multilingually and on a location and topic based level. The information are exclusively provided by responsible authorities and institutions that are entitled by an official license agreement. 

KATWARN is currently available as an application for smart phones as well as a service for text message and email. Furthermore, as part of many co-operations, it has been connected to various public information channel such as digital timetable and message boards, call centers, news portals, on-board computer in vehicles and so on.

Besides being operated by counties, federal states and the federal government, KATWARN has been the corporate warning system for industrial companies and facilities of the critical infrastructure as well as for organizers of major events. In 2017, the Austrian Republic implemented KATWARN as national warning system.

October 2013: KATWARN was chosen from amongst 1.000 candidates and awarded for “A Place of Excellence in the Land of Ideas” – an initiative aimed at promoting Germany as a location for industry and trade by the federal Government and Federation of German Industry (BDI).

January 2015: KATWARN launches update with the Association of the Deaf: A system update now offers more image information and overview functions and is accompanied in a test phase by the Bavarian Association of the Deaf.

January 2015: Rheinland-Pfalz is the first federal state to launch disaster warnings for smartphone users: In the event of serious disasters, the state's central disaster control center sends information and initial instructions on what to do via KATWARN to the cell phones of all registered citizens on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior.

February 2015: Disaster app tested in Hamburg: 35,000 citizens successfully warned. KATWARN has been established as a standardized nationwide warning system in many cities, districts and federal states since 2009 and has a total of almost half a million users.

September 2015: KATWARN disaster warning system now also on Wall AG's digital advertising surfaces: The warnings are approved for Berlin by the fire department control center and the German Weather Service and then immediately played unchanged from Wall AG's technical control center on the advertising surfaces.

September 2015: World's largest chemical site and neighboring cities launch KATWARN: In the future, the cities of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen and the world's largest chemical company BASF SE will use the KATWARN system as an additional transmission channel to warn people in the event of major hazards.

September 2015: Safety information for guests at the Oktoberfest: Just in time for the Oktoberfest, the KATWARN warning and information system expands its offering in consultation with the Munich Fire Department. With KATWARN-Oktoberfest, Oktoberfest guests now receive official safety information directly on their smartphone via the “Oktoberfest 2015” themed warning.

April 2016: Messe Berlin launches the KATWARN warning and information system: On April 4, 2016, Messe Berlin GmbH became the first trade fair company in Germany to activate the KATWARN warning and information system for the Berlin exhibition grounds. A version specially tailored to Messe Berlin now informs exhibitors and visitors, employees and service providers at the various events about incidents on the exhibition grounds and provides instructions for action.

May 2016: “Rock am Ring” warns visitors with KATWARN: Around 90,000 guests were expected at the “Rock am Ring” music festival in Mendig. In order to be better protected in the event of severe storms or other safety disruptions, a special application of the KATWARN warning system was made available to them free of charge from 2016.

July 2017: KATWARN warning system starts internationally networked operation: From July 1, 2017, people affected by hazardous situations in Austria will receive official warnings directly on their smartphones or as notifications via text message and email from the relevant authorities. Austria offers its own “national” KATWARN app free of charge in the app stores for this purpose.

September 2017: Oktoberfest: KATWARN also warns in foreign languages: For the Oktoberfest in Munich, the KATWARN warning system launches a pilot project with foreign languages. With a special theme subscription for the Oktoberfest, the smartphone app offers official warnings of dangers around the festival grounds not only in German, but now also in English and Italian.

November 2017: KATWARN is integrated into control center platform: On the occasion of PMRExpo 2017 in Cologne, the high-tech company Frequentis integrates the KATWARN population warning system into its “3020 LifeX” communication and collaboration platform for control centers and situation centers. This connects the networked warning technology of the KATWARN system directly to the working environment of control center staff and security officers in situation centers and supports them with automated processes.

December 2017: Police in Hesse uses the KATWARN cell phone warning system for the Frankfurt Christmas market: blocked access routes due to large crowds of visitors, incorrectly parked cars or disruptions to public transport can lead to real dangers at major events and Christmas markets. With the KATWARN theme subscriptions, important information can be transmitted directly to the people affected on site in the event of danger.

February 2019: NINA and KATWARN warning apps show the same hazard messages: Regardless of whether the NINA or KATWARN warning app is installed on their smartphone, users will now receive the same official hazard messages. The collaboration began in spring 2017 with an agreement between the two partners.

February 2019: Safety on winter vacations with KATWARN: Reliable information, warnings and behavioral advice from the responsible authorities give people peace of mind. The KATWARN Austria app also warns German holidaymakers in Austria.

November 2019: Tsunami drill on Kos: population informed by KATWARN: On Tuesday morning, November 21, 2019, a tsunami drill was carried out on the Greek island of Kos by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission (JRC), local emergency and rescue services and the local municipality. According to initial evaluations, the KATWARN app, which was tested as part of the exercise, successfully disseminated information and behavioral advice to the local population. The report published in 2020 shows that seamless dissemination of the warning message was only possible thanks to the use of KATWARN. Without the KATWARN app on a teacher's cell phone, for example, the warning would not have reached a participating school class. The sirens could not be heard in their classroom.

September 2020: Warning Day 2020: During the first Germany-wide warning day, there were significant glitches in the use of warning apps by the federal government. At the same time, the KATWARN warning system showed that regional deployment can be relied on.

September 2021: KATWARN offers update for “critical alarm”: The KATWARN warning app enables the “critical alarm” function so that the alerts still activate in extremely dangerous situations even when the sound is switched off. The critical alarm should only be used if an immediate response by those affected is necessary. The decision lies with the responsible authorities, while the technical operators of the KATWARN system have no influence on the content of the warnings themselves.

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