This is how the anti-aircraft sirens that Spain has in the style of those that sound these days in Ukraine

During the last days and as a result of the , the sounds of anti-aircraft alarms in kyiv warning the population to find a refuge have overwhelmed the Western world. Events not witnessed in recent years and reminiscent of stages of the early twentieth century that, however, could be normal in almost any large European city due to the presence in many of these warning alarms. In Spain, as a reminder, there are still some specimens scattered throughout certain points of the geography.

Since the world has existed, there have been wars and, with it, the need to warn the population of an imminent attack. Either running 40 kilometers until fainting, from Marathon to Athens, like the Greek soldier Pheidippides who gave rise to the current marathons or with modern instruments on mobile phones, in the most warlike stage of the last century (World War I and II and the Cold War ), loudspeakers by cities were popularized until reaching some cities today.

This has been seen in kyiv when since February 24 the alarms interrupt the day to day of the war, whenever the Russian troops plan an imminent attack that could cause civilian damage. However, once this instrument of sound warnings was brought to Spain by large cities, it is already in disuse, with the Civil War they were very frequent, and if there was a civil emergency, the Government would use the new technologies.

This is how Spanish mobiles would sound in an emergency

Through the , approved last July, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation and the Ministry of the Interior deployed an application that, in the event of imminent emergencies or major catastrophes, processes a warning to all mobile devices in Spain.

This is done from mobile phone networks and is in accordance with the European Electronic Communications Code, which mandates all EU countries to have a similar system from June 2022 (i.e. if Ukraine joins the Union would have this application before a new Russian invasion).

These are the four anti-aircraft alarms that remain in Spain

In any case, in Spain there is still a sound alarm system in certain towns as a reminder of the war era. Not in Madrid, where all the loudspeakers that sounded frequently during the Civil War have already been eliminated, the three main examples are in Valencia, Guernica, Sabadell and Tarancón.

In the city of Turia, between 1931 and 1939, the Republican Government installed up to 25 alarms to warn the entire population in the event of an attack in order to seek imminent refuge. Currently, in the city, the last emergency siren in the city is maintained, yes, deactivated, which is located on a business building.

On the other hand, in Guernica, a town known for the bombing of the Nazi planes of the Condor Legion in 1937, the alarm that warned the entire population of it is still maintained and in 2017, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary, it sounded again. Something similar happens in Sabadell and Tarancón, a municipality in Cuenca, where this weekend, the sirens of the Casa Parada will sound again in memory of the bombings by fascist Italy that left 34 dead in the run-up to the Battle of Guadalajara.