The Minister of Territorial Policy, Manuel Miranda, has emphasised this Thursday the significance of the emergency alert trial Es-Alert across the island of Tenerife, while announcing that the final outcomes of this operation will be revealed at noon.
After 10:00 in the morning, at the Plaza de El Chicharro in Santa Cruz, where the Advanced Command Post of 112 Canarias was situated, the alert had yet to be received on all mobile devices: “There are incidents; in some locations, alerts are transmitted earlier, while in others, they arrive later,” Miranda noted.
A group of reporters observed the minutes of delay that occurred between the reception of this alert by users nearby, the confusion of those who had not yet received the notification, and the lack of understanding among some elderly residents regarding the meaning of the message.
In any case, the regional government’s Counsellor of Territorial Policy has confirmed that noon has been designated for reporting the final results of an initiative regarded as “significant” in emergency prevention strategies for scenarios such as floods and volcanic eruptions.
The Es-Alert system functions as a notification transmitted through mobile devices from the 112 Canarias Emergency and Security Coordination Centre.
Mobile devices equipped with 4G and 5G technology on the island, located within the coverage zone, receive a text message, indicating “TEST,” accompanied by a beep and vibration which will vanish once the user has read it and pressed “Accept.”
Individuals may receive the alert at the moment of dispatch or upon entering their mobile operator’s service area, although the alert will not be received if the device is switched off or in airplane mode, but it can be received if the phone is on silent mode.
Though the test is being executed in Tenerife, some areas on neighbouring islands, as well as ships passing close to the island’s shore, were capable of receiving the alert due to the reach of the mobile phone masts.
Upon reading and accepting the message, users are directed to a user feedback survey, which both the advisor of the Canary Islands Government and the president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Rosa Dávila, have highlighted as essential to complete “to gather feedback” and consequently enhance the service.
The initial findings from the Es-Alert trial in Tenerife this Thursday, according to Rosa Dávila, indicate that nearly 30,000 individuals responded to the survey within just 20 minutes, with Santa Cruz noting the highest level of engagement in this regard.
From the Advanced Command Post at Plaza del Chicharro, additional data could be assessed, such as the number of surveys completed in different languages and the distribution by mobile service providers among those users.
The regional authorities have emphasised that the crucial aspect of the Es-Alert trial conducted this Thursday is to refrain from dialling 1-1-2.
At the Advanced Command Post, in Plaza del Chicharro, the Deputy Minister of Emergencies for the Canary Islands Government, Marcos Lorenzo; the president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Rosa Dávila; and the mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez, were present, along with other technical members of 112 Canarias.
