Thai authorities announced on April 23 that the country will begin testing a mobile phone-based disaster alert system, following public criticism over the lack of warnings issued during the powerful earthquake that struck Myanmar last month and caused damage in Bangkok.
According to Phasakorn Boonyalak, Director-General of Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), the Cell Broadcast System (CBS) will be piloted next month in several areas, including the capital Bangkok, which was badly shaken by the 7.7-magnitude quake in neighbouring Myanmar.
The system will use three mobile networks to deliver warnings "quickly and with wide coverage, both on natural disaster and security threats."
The pilot programme is scheduled to begin on May 2, initially targeting four city hall buildings. The test will be conducted in three phases, with the final and largest phase set to cover all of Bangkok and Chiang Mai province on May 13.
Phasakorn noted that residents' cellphones will get a pop-up message on their screens in both Thai and English, accompanied by a siren. This will be the first public test run of the CBS system, and even tourists using roaming services will also receive the alerts. DDPM aims to issue alerts within 10 minutes of an earthquake.
The earthquake on March 28 left at least 53 people dead after a building under construction collapsed in Bangkok.
