Today in Emilia Romagna the test of It-Alert, the new national public warning system which aims to promptly inform citizens in the event of serious, imminent or ongoing emergencies. Let's see in more detail what it is and how it works.
What is It-Alert
As we said, It-Alert is the public warning system that will be active nationwide from next year. Therefore, in 2024 we will have this extra tool to avoid the many victims that natural disasters bring with them when they become large. Today the test concerned Emilia Romagna: citizens received a message on their smartphone as a test alert.
The test had already been spread to other regions, namely Tuscany, Sardinia, Sicily and Calabria. And so it was also for the Emilia region, severely hit by the floods last May. Smartphones and cell phones in Emilia Romagna rang at the same time as the It-Alert message arrived.
If you haven't received your message, don't worry. Just go on It-Alert official site and answer the questionnaire: the answers will serve to improve the system. It is an absolutely anonymous and free service, and to access it you will not need to install apps or sign up. The test, like the questionnaire, has the task of finding any critical points in the system, in order to then possibly optimize it.
How It-Alert works
In essence, this alarm system will allow citizens to be warned in the event of:
- tsunamis
- collapse of large dams
- volcanic activity
- nuclear accidents
- radiological emergencies
- major accidents in industrial plants
In short, certainly a very valuable aid, a technology that could become essential in the immediate future. However, It-Alert has some technological limitations: it is in fact possible that a message addressed to an area can also reach users who are outside of it. And a very dangerous scenario could also happen: undelivered message in areas without coverage.
In this sense, the device and the version of the operating system installed will also become fundamental. All aspects that the tests should take into consideration.
