Portugal will have a new system of warnings to the population in the event of adverse events, such as bad weather or rural fires, based on a mobile network technology that is faster and more effective than the current SMS messages.
The ordinance aimed at implementing the cell broadcast warning system (“cell broadcast”), a technology that allows emergency alerts to be sent to thousands of users simultaneously in a few seconds, was published today in Diário da República.
The document, signed by the Ministers of Internal Administration, José Luís Carneiro, and of Infrastructures, João Galamba, determines that the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration (SGMAI) and the Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM) initiate actions with a view to creating a cell broadcast warning system “cell broadcast”.
To this end, these three entities must deliver to the Government, by June, a report with the conclusions of the work and the formulation of proposals.
According to the ordinance, ANEPC, SGMAI and ANACOM have to identify the constraints associated with the implementation and propose suitable measures for the respective solution, determine the needs for a technological 'upgrade', assess the need to change the legal framework, present a schedule, with the list of actions to be developed, for the implementation process and come up with an estimate of the necessary financial investment.
Since 2018, the Civil Protection has a preventive warning system for the population via SMS (text messages via mobile phone), which is sent to citizens who are in the districts where the adverse weather phenomenon occurs.
The system “cell broadcast” allows the sending of emergency alerts to all mobile networks, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G, does not cause saturation in the mobile network, are received according to the citizen's location at the time, reach visitors from other countries in the affected region, in the desired language, and in near real time (4 to 10 seconds).
In the ordinance, the Government refers that the National Strategy for Preventive Civil Protection 2030 establishes that, by 2027, high-reaching technological solutions are used, taking into account the increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme meteorological phenomena, and the importance of strengthening warning and early warning mechanisms for emergency situations.
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