5088 Alerts in 56 Days... Citizens Exhausted by Constant Disaster Messages

[Photo by online community capture]

[Asia Economy Reporter Shinwon Yoon] As the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) continues, emergency disaster alerts have become a part of daily life. The content varies from confirmed case status and movement routes to public mask sales announcements. However, many citizens have become fatigued due to some unnecessary information also being sent via disaster alerts.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's National Disaster Safety Portal on the 16th, from January 20, when the first domestic COVID-19 case was confirmed, until the 15th of this month, a total of 5,088 emergency disaster alerts were sent. During the same period last year, only 199 messages were sent, an increase of about 25.5 times. This explains why citizens inevitably complain of fatigue caused by disaster alerts.

What are the criteria for sending disaster alerts? According to the Framework Act on Disaster and Safety Management, heads of metropolitan or local governments may send guidance messages to carry out forecasts, warnings, notifications, or emergency measures related to disasters. Therefore, they are obligated to send messages regarding the disaster of COVID-19 spread.

However, examining the content of disaster alerts reveals that while necessary information such as confirmed COVID-19 cases, movement routes of confirmed cases, and calls to find citizens who had contact with confirmed cases are included, some messages seem somewhat unnecessary to be considered disaster alerts. These include COVID-19 prevention guidelines, notifications that no additional confirmed cases have occurred, or recommendations to refrain from attending events, all being announced as 'disaster alerts.'

As a result, some citizens turn off alarm settings. A 20-something office worker, Mr. A, said, "Because the alert beeps up to 9 or 10 times a day, I just turned off the alarm altogether," adding, "I wonder if it is really necessary to notify via disaster alerts that a resident tested negative or that no additional confirmed cases have been reported."

Another issue pointed out is receiving disaster alerts from regions unrelated to one's residence or workplace.

Emergency Disaster Alert [Photo - Online Community Capture]

Mr. B, a 30-something office worker living in Yeongdeungpo-gu, lamented, "Due to disaster alerts ringing at all hours, I recently just turn them off without even reading the content," adding, "I receive disaster alerts not only from Yeongdeungpo-gu but also from other districts like Yangcheon-gu, Gwanak-gu, Dongjak-gu, and Yongsan-gu."

This is actually not a mistake by local governments but a result of the disaster alert transmission method. Disaster alerts are sent through domestic mobile carriers' LTE base stations, and messages are broadcast collectively to phones near the base station. Even if the area is unrelated to one's residence, if a phone is near the boundary of a region or within the coverage of another region's base station, it can receive disaster alerts.

To alleviate citizens' inconvenience and fatigue, some local governments have begun changing the criteria for sending disaster alerts. Cheongju City limits transmissions from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. to only COVID-19 confirmed case movement routes and urgent cooperation matters in the morning, and has decided not to send the 'no additional confirmed cases' notification that was previously sent when no new cases occurred. Considering the character limit of disaster alerts (90 characters per message), if the number of messages exceeds three per confirmed case, the city plans to provide guidance via links to the city hall website and blog.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.