Disaster Alerts Sent Only When Needed with New Filtering System to Stop Constant Notifications

Government Begins Overhaul of Disaster Text Message Service
Prevention of Duplicate and Repetitive Messages and Reorganization of Broadcasting System

A major overhaul of disaster text messages that provide various disaster information to the public is underway. This measure aims to reduce public fatigue caused by duplicate and repetitive messages and to prevent the weakening of alertness.

According to the government on the 13th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety will hold the 'Disaster Text Message Broadcasting Operation Council' on the 14th to discuss these improvement plans in order to provide better disaster text message services to the public.

The participating organizations include the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the National Police Agency, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, and mobile carriers, with the main topics being the introduction of filtering functions and the reorganization of the sending system.

First, starting from the third quarter, a filtering function will be introduced in the process of sending disaster text messages. This is to block the sending of duplicate and repetitive content that causes fatigue or dulls alertness among the public and to provide only essential information.

The segmentation of the text message broadcasting system according to the roles and responsibilities of each user organization will be implemented from next year. Currently, disaster text message broadcasting includes not only disasters but also civil defense and missing person alerts, which can cause confusion regarding the operating entities. Therefore, considering the roles and responsibilities of each user organization, the text message broadcasting system will be subdivided from the current two types to four types to deliver information more quickly and accurately according to the type.

In addition, the character limit for disaster text messages will be expanded from the current 90 characters to 157 characters. In the event of a disaster, this will allow more detailed guidance on the disaster situation, evacuation methods, and precautions through disaster text messages.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to operate an advisory group composed of experts in various fields to enhance the completeness of policy implementation. Lee Han-kyung, Director of the Disaster Safety Management Headquarters, said, "Disaster text messages have established themselves as a key means of providing disaster information to the public," adding, "The government will continue to develop disaster text message services so that the public can receive essential disaster information quickly and accurately."

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