I was recently at a hotel in Italy that had what I'd have to describe
as an emergency drawstring - in pulling the string you pull a switch
beside which it says "Emergency". I assume the purpose is to provide
people who get stuck, be it because they fell and broke a hip, or
whatever, however, the drawstring didn't seem to be long enough to
really be pulled from the basin.

This makes me wonder... is there another purpose to the draw
strings? Are they required in some EU countries? I don't recall
seeing them in France...