Tsunami emergency texts: Who makes the call on alerting and why are some phones shrieking at their owners in US accents?
5 Mar, 2021 03:39 PM
4 minutes to read
It comes down to one person pushing a button - before a lot of people get a big surprise.
The decision to issue mobile alerts after events such as Friday s earthquakes is reserved for trained operators in a few agencies. And if people don t get one when they think they should have - they re not shy at letting people know.
A Civil Defence alert message on Friday morning came to Gisborne residents three hours after a severe 7.1-magnitude earthquake shook them awake.
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Covid-19 coronavirus: That shrill beep alert might only be dodged if you re in the bush
2 Mar, 2021 11:47 PM
3 minutes to read
The shrieking of phones with the Covid-19 emergency alert this weekend was absent from some stretches of rural New Zealand.
But people returning from bucolic adventures might have had a special surprise when stepping back into cellphone reception areas.
Phone users outside coverage areas don t get the alerts.
Millions of people got the latest Covid-19 emergency mobile alert but those outside coverage areas probably weren t suddenly reaching for their phones like many others. Photo / 123RF
Civil defence authorities said other methods could be used to reach Kiwis in remote areas.