Tomorrow is the first-ever "Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day," a day when national leaders and local city dwellers alike will gather in remembrance of the 300,000 people killed during the six-week attack on the city in 1937.
To commemorate the event, the city of Nanjing has rolled out the world's biggest, loudest air-raid siren of all time: 2.6 meters tall, 2.4 meters wide and capable of pumping out 130 decibels worth of honk. The siren has been dubbed "The Defender," and uses some 30x the energy of your typical air siren.
According to the SCMP, "for their own safety, operators of the huge siren must use a remote control to operate it, and stand at least 50 meters away."
The siren was built pro-bono by a manufacturer in Zhejiang Province. While this is the first time that remembrance of the Nanjing massacre has been codified as an official memorial day, the sounding of an air-raid siren on December 13 has been a Nanjing tradition for close to 20 years. If anyone had been sleeping through it before, it looks like this year will be quite an awakening.
0 User Comments