Did your phone go off loudly after your emergency alert today? The government’s instant disaster alert service raised an alarm on Saturday morning when a loud sound echoed over several mobile phones, confusing people about what had happened.
As they were checking their phones, a message appeared beginning with the words “Very Severe Alert” with the following text: “India, launches cell broadcast using indigenous technology, to serve instant disaster alert to its citizens. Citizens alert, nation safe. No action is required by the public on receipt of this message. This is a test message. – Government of India.”
Disaster warning system experience
This development came days after the government announced that it would test a mobile disaster warning system and urged citizens to ignore it.
“As part of the pan-India rollout and launch of the Cell Broadcast (CB) facility, nationwide tests and trials are currently being conducted to evaluate the performance and reliability of the system before it is officially inaugurated and dedicated to the nation. During this period, members of the public may receive test messages in English, Hindi and regional languages on their mobile devices,” the statement said, as reported by PTI on Wednesday.
According to the report, the experiments and warning system are based on the Common Alert Protocol (CAP) as recommended by the United Nations International Telecommunication Union.
The government said citizens may receive these alerts multiple times on their phones, and urged them not to act on them.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), in cooperation with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), is coordinating this system.
Emergency alert trial in February
A similar nationwide test of the emergency alert system was conducted last February. Both iPhone and Android users have reported receiving a “Test Alert” notification with a loud beep.
“This is a TEST Cell Broadcast message sent by the National Disaster Management Authority in coordination with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India as part of the testing of the Cell Broadcast solution for alert dissemination,” the notification read.
