New Delhi, May 30 (IANS) Indian citizens across the Delhi NCR region received an emergency alert accompanied by a loud beep sound on their phones on Saturday for a disaster warning.

The alerts were sent for the second time and appeared as flash messages on mobile devices along with a high-decibel warning tone.

Earlier in May, officials had said the alerts are part of routine testing being carried out by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to assess the effectiveness and reliability of the emergency communication mechanism ahead of wider operational deployment.

The messages informed users that the alerts were part of a test exercise and that no action was required.

The Cell Broadcast Alert System has been developed to deliver disaster-related warnings, emergency notifications and public safety messages directly to mobile phones in real time during situations such as earthquakes, tsunamis, lightning strikes, floods and other emergencies.

The alerts are transmitted through the indigenous integrated alert system ‘SACHET’, developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), and are based on internationally accepted Common Alerting Protocol standards.

The testing follows the launch of the ‘Cell Broadcast Alert System’ earlier this month by Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The system was developed with the support of the NDMA under the guidance of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The government launched the Cell Broadcast Alert System to strengthen disaster preparedness and ensure faster dissemination of emergency information to citizens.

Officials said such periodic testing exercises are being conducted to evaluate network readiness and ensure seamless delivery of emergency alerts across different mobile networks and handsets.

–IANS

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