Bhubaneswar: Mobile phone users across Odisha Wednesday received an emergency alert message from Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India.
The message read that it was a pan-India emergency alert system being implemented by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
DoT in collaboration with NDMA had sent the ‘emergency alert’ messages through Cell Broadcasting System as part of a test to enhance emergency communication during disasters. In this test, the alert pops up on the user’s mobile screen making a loud alarm-like sound.
Here are the contents of the alert message:
The emergency alert message says, “This is a SAMPLE TESTING MESSAGE sent through the Cell Broadcasting System by the Department of Telecommunication, Government of India.”
“Please ignore this message as no action is required from your end. This message has been sent to test Pan-India Emergency Alert System being implemented by the National Disaster Management Authority. It aims to enhance public safety and provide timely alerts during emergencies,” it further explains.
The messages were sent in both English and Odia languages.
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“Natural disasters claim a lot of lives in India annually. To save people, we have to inform them in advance so that they can move to a safer place. For this purpose, we have started the Cell Broadcasting System.” said a senior government official.
“About 99.9 per cent of our telecom towers fired the messages. However, it missed some mobile handsets and a few towers. We will look into it,” the official informed while adding that messages can be sent to a particular region or the entire state in one go. Further, he revealed that subscribers will receive the message even if their phones are switched off.
The emergency alert system is expected to be rolled out in next month, he said.
The test run was conducted by all four telecom operators including BSNL, Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea throughout Odisha.
The government has been testing an emergency alert system on phones to help the NDMA send real-time alerts to citizens during emergencies such as earthquakes, flash floods among others.
PNN & Agencies