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Enrique Miranda
Malaga
Tuesday, 5 November 2024, 13:02
The terrible tragedy sparked by the 'Dana' storm in the Valencia region of Spain has put effectiveness or otherwise of the Spanish government's warning system for alerting the population in the event of large-scale emergencies in the spotlight. In particular, much is being said about the ES-Alert system, which has been in operation in Spain since 2023.
It is especially designed to warn of natural disasters (such as last week's floods or even earthquakes) but could also be used in other cases such as terrorism. It is a sound warning followed by a text that the Civil Protection service can send to all mobile phones in a certain area, without the need to have their number. Even if a mobile phone is silenced, the alert still reaches the user. This is why it can be so effective, because it reaches the population of a specific area at risk in a short time.
Last week the ES-Alert system was used in Valencia and for the first time in Andalucía in Jerez, and then in Almeria. But how does it work, does it need to be activated, and does it work on all phones? These are the most important questions:
1
One of the most important issues is that it is not necessary to activate the ES-Alert system on our mobile phones, according to the regional government or Interior Ministry. In fact, it is active by default on devices "and cannot be deactivated", they remind us. It is true that in the security and emergencies section of settings on our devices, alerts can be activated or deactivated, but these warnings are Civil Protection pre-alerts, known as Level 2, which are not currently in use in Spain. In other words, even if this option is deactivated on our device, if Civil Protection uses the ES-Alert system, the warning will reach us.
2
The ES-Alert system will be displayed on the mobile phone in a similar way to a text message and is accompanied "in any case by a beep and a vibration". In addition, as explained by the Junta de Andalucía, a link is sent with a series of recommendations or advice on how to act in each case (whether it is an earthquake, a flood...).
The warning is sent to mobile phones in the area even if they are muted, blocked or in "Do not disturb" mode. The alert message will remain on the screen until we click on accept and then it is saved in the device. "The alert will also be sent to all persons entering the emergency area for up to two hours after it is sent," the Junta pointed out.
The alerts will be issued in Spanish and, where appropriate, the co-official language of the region in which the affected area is located. In addition, if the emergency centre so decides, a message may be issued in a "secondary language" in devices that are configured in another language.
3
The system is designed to reach as many mobile phones as possible. In the case of older devices, the text of the warning may not be clearly visible, disappear more quickly or simply not arrive at all. In any case, the Civil Protection website reports that Android phones with Android 9 or higher systems will receive the warnings correctly, but Android 8 or lower will not. In the case of iPhone, phones with an iOS 15.6 operating system or higher receive the alerts and display them correctly.
4
The emergency coordination centres of each region are responsible for sending these warnings. Central government is also responsible, if necessary. The warnings are sent whenever a series of conditions are met and the emergency experts consider it necessary. For example, in the case of Andalucía, it was activated in Jerez, but not in Huelva. The Junta's interior minister Antonio Sanz, explained that the risk is not always extreme when there is a red alert and that it will be the experts who make the decision.
5
Messages are sent from these antennas simultaneously to all devices in the desired coverage area. As no telephone numbers are required, there is no violation of data protection regulations. As far as location is concerned, the location information needed is exclusively that used by the telephone operators to provide the service.
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