Emergency Alert: Find Out Why NDMA Is Sending Notifications to Your Phone
After some cellphone users in India experienced a “emergency flash” on Thursday, the word “emergency” has been trending on the social networking platform X (previously Twitter). ‘Emergency Alert: Severe’ was sent to cellphones today at about 1:30 pm along with a loud beep.
“This is a SAMPLE TESTING MESSAGE delivered by the Department of Telecommunication, Government of India, through the Cell Broadcasting System. As there is nothing you need to do, disregard this message. The National Disaster Management Authority’s TEST Pan-India Emergency Alert System has been issued this message. The flash message said that it aimed to improve public safety and provide prompt notifications during crises.
Users were alarmed by the warning, and as a result, they filled social media with images of the message and questions.
What It Means Is This:
The Department of Telecommunication issued the emergency warning as a test message to ensure that its emergency alert system was functioning properly. Such tests are a crucial component of the government’s readiness and response plans for disasters. These fictitious emergency warnings are essential drills to guarantee the efficient broadcast of key information to residents during genuine crises.
According to a statement released by the Department of Telecommunications on July 20, “These tests will be conducted periodically in different parts of the country to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of emergency alert broadcasting capabilities of the systems in place, of various Mobile Operators and Cell Broadcast System.”
The cell broadcast alert system, according to the DoT, is a technology that enables the government to transmit urgent warnings for crisis management to all mobile devices within a certain geographic region, regardless of whether the receivers are locals or tourists. Emergency notifications, such as those related to extreme weather warnings for tsunami, flash floods, earthquakes, etc., are often sent by cell broadcast.
