When there are emergency situations near our surroundings, public authorities and security forces use all kinds of means to alert the population quickly. Television, Internet or radio are some of the channels that allow us to know as soon as possible what is happening and the steps we have to follow to stay safe. In the case of our mobiles, a service is available that informs us in these situations.
As we said, the mobile also receives these notifications when there are serious or extreme situations that put the population at risk. These can save us in life on many occasions, and luckily they are available in the vast majority of devices. They are the so-called wireless emergency alerts , and we are going to explain what they are and what types are there.
What are these notices?
They are notices or messages that reach our device when an emergency situation occurs in our area. They can come to us when natural disasters occur, when a child is lost or simply to carry out tests to prevent dangerous situations. They are shown on the screen of our device in the form of a notification, and it includes information about the type of alert that it is, the duration and the measures to be taken, as well as the agency or body that issues it.
These work efficiently thanks to an advanced messaging service, called Cell Broadcast . This technology is practically compatible with the majority of mobiles around the world. In this way, when alarms are sent to all devices, they are not compromised or show reception failures, even though there is an overload of messages and calls, as is often the case in these cases.
Regardless of whether our mobile is silent or vibrating, you will always know how to recognize these warnings. When serious or extreme situations occur near us, our mobile will emit an alarm noise for a few seconds at a very high volume . It is done so that we quickly realize the message and can take action instantly.
How they are activated
We can manage these alarms in the settings of our mobile phone very easily. The safest thing is to keep all of them activated to have good coverage in dangerous situations, but you can always modify them to your liking. To do this, you just have to follow the following steps:
- Open your phone’s Settings
- Next, look for the Applications and notifications section and access it.
- Access the Advanced Settings . The name may vary in some manufacturers, such as Advanced Settings or Advanced .
- Once there, look for the Wireless Emergency Alerts tab.
Within this section, you will be able to see all the types of notifications available:
- Extreme
- Graves.
- AMBER alerts.
- Test alerts.
You can even choose or not to receive notifications on your phone, configure the vibration, sound, and even listen to the alert messages with the voice synthesis of your device. However, these characteristics will vary depending on the customization layer of your Android phone, since not all software has the same possibilities.
On the other hand, you also have access to a history where you can see all the emergency alarms that have been issued in recent months. And not only this, but we can also have an extra setting called ‘Alert reminder’ with which a warning will sound at a normal volume, we can choose between: Once, Every 2 minutes, Every 15 minutes and Never.
However, for Android users to be able to receive these notices on their mobile devices, it will be necessary at all times to have an Internet connection, either through Wi-Fi or with the mobile data of the terminal. Otherwise, it will not be possible for us to receive these alarms on the phone.
However, they could arrive via SMS, so it would be necessary in that case for the smartphone to have coverage at that time. This is the case in Spain, which will work with notifications via SMS.
Types of emergencies
If you did not know it or you have never had to experience it on your skin, it is time for you to know that each country has different types and they are classified according to severity. In addition, they are notices that are issued to citizens locally, in a specific city, or in a specific area that may be affected by a specific emergency.
In addition, in the case of large events, users are informed directly so that they do not go to certain areas, because there are too many people already. However, most are the same in all parts of the world, and they are as follows.
Extreme threats
They are the most serious, and occur when life or property is at high risk. Normally, these messages suggest the displacement of people to avoid greater evils. They can be very serious natural disasters , such as a tsunami or hurricane or terrorist attacks . Even so, in European countries and specifically in Spain, notifications of this type do not usually arrive, but in America and Asia they are very frequent. In addition, when this type of notice is triggered, it usually requires that the people who receive it go to a certain point to get to safety.
Serious threats
These occur in less serious situations than the previous ones, but they can be of the same type. Even so, they usually include some measures given by the authorities to stay safe, and it is not necessary to move to another place or take other extreme measures.
Government alerts
They are intended to locate missing or abducted children . Its origin dates back to Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered in 1996. These alerts give us information of all kinds from the authorities, such as suspects who may have kidnapped the child, vehicle descriptions and their license plates. On the other hand, the child’s information may include the clothes he was wearing, the name or the last time he was seen.
Test
As its name suggests, these types of warnings are given when the governments or authorities of a country carry out tests and send messages to the population to assess the readiness of infrastructures and notifications in an emergency situation. In the United States they are very common and tend to be shipped with some regularity.
Presidential Alerts
Finally, these alarms are usually classified as extreme, that is, they are similar to the previous ones, but in this case they are issued directly by the president of a country himself. Therefore, they cannot be deactivated, nor does an option appear to enable them within the phones, although it is very difficult for us to receive them on our mobile devices.
AMBER Alerts Differences
Unlike what happens with the rest of our mobile notifications, these work differently. For starters, they do not depend on any application or other system functions. These are launched by a specific body or agency authorized by governments, and the messages are sent in clear language so that the entire population can understand it.
These alarms reach all the telephones in a certain area that are registered in it, so only these will be able to receive them. Of course, there are always cases in which some terminals do not have this service available, but luckily it is already implemented in the vast majority.
On the other hand, when we receive a notification of this type, it emits a specific sound and vibration to guarantee accessibility to people with hearing or vision-related disabilities. In addition, we can receive them in situations in which we find ourselves with little coverage or we have the airplane mode activated, although the latter is not entirely true.
