An alert sound on cell phones nationwide caused surprise this Tuesday, February 6. The Indeci alert is sent only to mobile phones that have “Cell Broadcast” technology | Photo composition: Infobae Peru
Last Tuesday, February 6, at 10:09 a.m., the cell phones of thousands of Peruvians emitted an unusual and powerful sound, capturing the attention of the population instantly. The cause behind this phenomenon was an alert sent by the National Institute of Civil Defense (Indeci), designed to warn of a possible earthquake or disaster emergency.
You may be interested in: Sismate Alert: When will the next Indeci earthquake emergency warning test be?
The activation of the alarm of the Emergency Early Warning Messaging System (Sismate) generated a mixture of surprise and confusion among citizens, who were in their daily activities without expecting an interruption of this nature.
Claudia Gálvez, a Facebook user, showed her annoyance in a post where she reported that she was at the Edgardo Rebagliati Martins National Hospital and when the loud noise began, it caused a great scare and panic among patients, family members and medical personnel there.
You may be interested in: SISMATE: Earthquake alarm sent by Indeci to cell phones surprises people from Lima and people from other towns
“Why don’t they warn that the alarm is a test. What a scare. We are in Rebagliati and everyone went crazy. Nobody knew what it was, if it was a fire and we had to evacuate or what. All phones at once!,” she wrote.
According to the message released by Indeci, the alert on cell phones was part of a drill against possible natural disasters at the national level such as tsunamis, earthquakes, river overflows, among others. They mentioned that this is a trial period that will last until March 15 and that through alerts and informative messages, they will keep the population up to date.
For a cell phone to receive the MTC alert, it must have special technology, according to Indeci – Andina credit
In this way, the Peruvian government tries to prevent and minimize damage derived from earthquakes in the national territory, also considering that Peru is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire and has a seismic silence of more than 400 years.
You may be interested in: Heat wave in Lima: Indeci’s recommendations to prepare for the increase in temperature
The fundamental purpose of this system is to warn the population a few seconds before the arrival of the most intense seismic waves in their area, giving them the opportunity to adopt safety measures. The same alert procedure will be carried out in the event of river overflows, the arrival of landslides, among other events that put the lives and integrity of Peruvians at risk.
As reported by Agencia Andina, the cell phones that can receive the Sismate alert are those that have “Cell Broadcast” technology, regardless of whether it is a basic phone or a high-end smartphone.
If your mobile phone did not ring this Tuesday with the Indeci alert, you can follow the following steps:
- Verify that your mobile phone is compatible with “Cell Broadcast” technology. This functionality is necessary to receive alert messages sent by the system.
- Make sure your cell phone is not in Airplane Mode, as you need to receive radio signals from cellular base stations so the alert can reach your device.
- Check that your device is active (with chip installed) and has a network signal, whether from 2G to 5G, to guarantee message reception in any area, even in remote areas.
- Remember that receiving these alerts does not depend on an internet connection or data plan, since specific signaling channels are used to send them.
- If after carrying out these checks your cell phone still does not receive the alerts, it could be because your terminal does not have the Cell Broadcast functionality active or that the nearby cellular base station does not have this feature enabled. In this case, check with your mobile operator about the compatibility of your phone and the availability of the service in your area.
Sismate began its creation process in 2017, but it is not yet working. (Composition: Infobae)
To verify the presence of specific technology in a mobile device, users should compare the IMEI number displayed on the box with the one displayed on the device. This is accomplished by dialing *#06# on the phone, as if making a call.
Subsequently, it is necessary to ensure that the phone is approved. For this, the MTC offers an online platform where you can search for the certificate using the make or model of the device.
To determine the phone model, you must access “Settings” on the device and select “About this phone”. The code found there must be entered in the “Model” field in the MTC platform search engine.
The user has the option of downloading a certificate in PDF format, which shows the date on which the device was approved for entry into Peru.
In order to ensure that imported mobile terminals such as cell phones, tablets and wearable devices meet certain technical requirements for their sale in Peru, the Ministry of Transportation issued Supreme Decree No. 019-2019-MTC.
Tech companies like Huawei and Lenovo have shared tutorials for enabling the “Cell Broadcast” feature on devices. Samsung, for its part, offers assistance through online consultations on its website.