I am old enough to remember where I was when a few bad things occurred in this city. They have happened more often than I would like to believe, because this is a place where trauma is taken for granted as an inescapable part of life. When one grows up in a city where neither safety nor water is guaranteed, one tends to sweep tragic events under the proverbial rug a lot faster. It’s why the bad things I mention only come to mind if one stops and thinks about them. I know that we almost never do.

When I was a young journalist, for instance, I happened to cover a few attacks of terrorism. I recall streets slippery with blood, and hospital wards that were overwhelmed. I remember police stations struggling to manage without basic equipment, and doctors with that harrowed look that only appears on the faces of the truly desperate. The reason I thought about those times, without really wanting to, was because of a news report that appeared and disappeared without a fuss a few weeks ago. It was about sirens and how, of the over 272 reportedly installed across the city, only 39 were judged to be currently operational. They were tested only because the government had announced some drills to assess civil defence preparedness in the event of any war-like scenario.

That report prompted me to do a bit of research on how sirens can be effective when used intelligently. I found out that they are sometimes integrated into other warning systems, such as telephones, radio, and television, to help disseminate important messages to larger groups of people in the shortest possible time. I also found out that the state of Hawaii has the largest single integrated outdoor siren warning system for public safety in the world, and that France has a system of 4500 electronic sirens that are tested on the first Wednesday of each month.