In Emilia-Romagna, the tests of the new public alarm system have started. The Lombardy region, especially the provinces of Cremona, Lodi, Mantova, and Pavia, may also be involved. What to do if your cellphone rings.
The tests of the new public alarm system have started
On Monday, July 10, 2023, at 12 o’clock, the mobile phones in Emilia-Romagna will receive a test message from IT-alert, the new national public alarm system, still in the experimental phase, promoted by the Department of Civil Protection. All devices connected to mobile phone cells will ring simultaneously, emitting a different sound from the traditional one.
What is IT-alert
This system aims to disseminate useful messages to mobile phones in a specific geographical area in case of serious emergencies or imminent or ongoing disasters.
In the future, IT-alert will complement existing alarm systems, even at the local level, and will be aimed at communicating and quickly disseminating the first information on possible dangerous situations related to a specific event that has occurred or is imminent, in order to encourage users to be more aware of the risks and to adopt prevention and safeguard measures.
The message will be received by those who are in the area affected by the emergency or calamitous event.
The IT-alert service, as provided for by EU Directive 2018/1972 for public alarm systems and by the Italian Electronic Communications Code, will be used for the following types of risks in the field of Civil Protection, currently provided by the Directive of February 7, 2023:
tsunami generated by an earthquake;
collapse of a large dam;
volcanic activity, related to the Vesuvius, Campi Flegrei, Vulcano, and Stromboli volcanoes;
nuclear accidents or situations of radiological emergency;
significant accidents in facilities subject to Legislative Decree 26 June 2015, no. 105 (Seveso Directive);
intense rainfall.
The province of Pavia is also involved
To receive IT-alert messages, including test ones, no action is required, but users will be asked to fill out a questionnaire to help improve the system. One of the limitations of the cell-broadcast technology used to send IT-alert messages is the impossibility of perfectly overlapping the area estimated to be potentially affected by the emergency with the area covered by the antennas of the telephone operators used to send the messages.
This means that there may be devices present in areas outside the region that is being tested at that time, which may receive an IT-alert message, and devices in affected areas that may not receive the message.
By the end of 2023, the test will also be carried out in the Lombardy region. For the reasons mentioned above, there is a possibility that citizens present in the Lombardy region, especially in the provinces of Cremona, Lodi, Mantova, and Pavia, bordering the Emilia-Romagna region, may receive the test message.
“This is a very important test,” said the regional councilor for Security and Civil Protection, Romano La Russa, “because IT-alert will complement existing alarm systems, even at the local level, and will be aimed at communicating and quickly disseminating the first information on possible dangerous situations related to a specific event that has occurred or is imminent.
Therefore, the alarm that could reach the mobile phones of citizens in the border areas, especially in the provinces of Lodi, Cremona, Mantova, and Pavia, is not real. It is only a test to encourage users to be more aware of the risks and to adopt prevention and safeguard measures.”
For more information, visit the website at it-alert.it.
The Civil Protection Operational Room of the Lombardy Region is always available to answer any questions on the subject by contacting the toll-free number: 800.061.160.
