Ro-Alert messages will have different sounds depending on the severity of the events. Four types of alerts. Announced changes
The head of the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU), Raed Arafat, announces important changes regarding the Ro-Alert messages, which will have different sounds depending on the severity of the situation. He says that the changes have been in the works for a longer time and are not related to the complaints generated by the Ro-Alert snow alert sent to Bucharest residents on February 18, at 4 am.
Arafat says that for serious situations the Ro-Alert sound will remain unchanged, as it is standardized internationally.
Four alert levels
The head of the DSU announced on Sunday morning that the changes specifically target other types of alerts, such as those regarding missing children or other situations of public interest.
The system will include the following alert levels:
- The imminent risk alert and the extreme alert will retain the original RO-ALERT sound, used internationally.
- The severe alert will have a quieter sound, similar to an SMS message.
- The missing child alert will also be signaled by a sound similar to an SMS message.
- A new category has also been introduced – the public safety alert, which will only appear on the screen, without any sound, “precisely not to disclose the position of people who may be hiding to avoid danger”.
“It's important for users to update their phones”
Raed Arafat says that this approach has been in the works for a long time, being carried out in collaboration with STS, recently, unrelated to the complaints generated by the Ro-Alert snow warning sent to the citizens of Bucharest on February 18, at 04.20.
According to the head of the DSU, this process of changing the Ro-Alert system is not yet complete, as the technical implementation depends on the phone manufacturers, both for Android and iOS systems.
“In order for the new options to be available, it is important that users update their phones to the latest version of the operating system – a simple process that is done online, directly from the phone's settings. We estimate that the vast majority of phones will have this system implemented in the coming period, as updates are installed.
Given that some of the phones have already implemented the new options, at the DSU level work will be done on updating the procedures, so that Ro-Alert messages are sent differently, depending on the severity of the situation.
At the same time, the possibility of using less intrusive alerts will allow the introduction of messages of public interest, such as those for code yellow, which until now were transmitted exclusively through the DSU application.
Also, part of the orange code alerts will be able to be transmitted in the form of severe alerts, with a sound similar to that of an SMS, while the alerts indicating a major risk will continue to be signaled exactly as before, with the standard Ro-Alert sound”, explains Raed Arafat.
