Emergency alert systems are necessary to always be informed about possible threats that may pose a risk to our security. Normally, they are usually terrorist forces that are causing chaos in cities with certain intimidations, but the truth is that a state of emergency could also be declared due to natural disasters. For this reason, the State Security Forces have a function to notify the entire population through cell phones. How is it activated?
Have you ever received a loud beep and a strong vibration on your smartphone as if it were going to explode? Don’t worry, they are notifying you of a warning signal that the country’s authorities have perceived, in order to raise awareness among citizens that they could be in danger from a possible threat of any kind.
However, the alerts you have experienced may only correspond to tests carried out by the Government, simply to see that they work perfectly for when they have to be used in problematic circumstances. Even so, it is always good to know that you can have these types of signals activated on your mobile phone if a threat has occurred that threatens the health of users near your area.
The causes of receiving an alert on my mobile
Most nations in the world, including Spain, have recently established a warning system to the entire population residing in their corresponding countries about certain upcoming atmospheric disasters, such as volcano eruptions, heavy downpours or even tornadoes, although the anticipation of terrorist attacks would also fall within this conglomerate of warnings.
However, government officials categorize these alerts according to the level of severity they may present. There are high-risk or extreme situations that affect all urban centers and could cause deaths, in such a way that mobilizations arise to save all those affected. On the contrary, there are milder ones that offer a less excessive warning sign, but which is still a reason to take appropriate precautions.
At the same time, it is necessary to add that from time to time the authorities carry out tests to make sure that all citizens correctly receive the emergency signal on their cell phones. Without going any further, last year in Spain the ES-Alert protocol was put into operation to send notifications to those locations with a threat to civil protection.
How to activate emergency alerts
In order to detect the alert sound on our devices, it is essential to have an option enabled that is available on both Android and iOS. This way, you can make sure you are aware of all precautionary messages by activating the Wireless Emergency Alerts feature.
In the case of Android phones, it will depend on each model, but it is as simple as entering Settings, going to Notifications (or Security and Emergency), then Advanced Settings and clicking on Wireless Emergency Alerts. Here you would have to check Allow alerts, in addition to vibration.
In Apple, things change, and you must access it from Settings and then enter Notifications. Next, scroll all the way down to select ES-Alert.
Be that as it may, you can investigate within this section to find out which are all the alerts that you may have received, in Emergency Alert History, in case you have missed any.
