Even though Almaty city authorities spent $2.4 million for an automated emergency alert system it didn’t work during a quake in the early morning of January 23. The Almaty Department of Emergency Situations has commented on the failure.
According to officials, there are 843 sirens in Almaty; they cover 100% of the city’s territory.
«We use sirens only for 5.5-magnitude quakes. This time, our gauges reported only 4 to 5 magnitude earthquakes. There was no need to switch on sirens because they would have created an unnecessary mess with no help to people,» the emergency department said in...