Warning messages

How the new cell phone alarm is supposed to warn of dangers

This test alert will be sent to cell phones on Monday.

(Bild: Büro LR Fellner/panitanphoto/Shutterstock)

A new warning system will be tested on Monday: Alert messages, for example in the event of natural disasters, will be sent directly to cell phones.

What has long been established in the USA and other countries around the world is now also being introduced here: from today, Monday, a new population warning system will ensure greater safety. And this is how it works:

• The state alarm and warning center sends a message to cell phones in a specific region in the event of an emergency.
• Messages can be sent in the event of natural hazards such as storms or floods, technical threats such as chemical accidents or police situations.
• The so-called AT-Alert is based on "cell broadcast" - personal data is not requested or used.
• The term "cell broadcast" stands on the one hand for the mobile radio cell and on the other hand for the transmission (broadcast) and describes the technical possibility of sending the messages in one or more cells of a mobile radio network.
• The cell phone alarm is intended to supplement the existing civil defense sirens and reach as many people as possible.

Test warning via cell phone message
The new system will be tested today, Monday, at 12 noon: A test warning will be sent out in Arriach (see photo above and info box). 

Attention: Due to the overlapping of the transmission masts, the test message could also land in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Feld am See, Reichenau, Gnesau, Steindorf, Treffen and Himmelberg.

This is stated in the test warning:

Official information
Arriach, 09.09.2024, 12 noon
For the area of the municipality of Arriach
SYSTEM TEST for AT-ALERT
This is just a system test.
This is just a system test.
Please do not call emergency numbers.
Please do not call emergency numbers.
Your LAWZ Ktn

"Thanks to the targeted warning by cell phone, we can inform the population quickly, directly and comprehensively about imminent dangers - and that can save lives in an emergency," emphasizes disaster control officer Daniel Fellner (SPÖ).

New warning system to reach more people
What happens to those who don't have a cell phone? Don't worry: the alert messages are only intended as a supplement. "For over thirty years, Austria has had a warning and alert system with around 8,300 civil defense sirens in all municipalities," says the state - this system will not be abolished: "AT-Alert is to be seen as a supplement to the sirens and will not replace this proven warning system."

Incidentally, not everyone can send the warnings on their cell phone. "AT-Alert is triggered by the nine state warning centers of the federal states and the Federal Ministry of the Interior," explains the state. In the event of an incident, the triggering bodies would send a corresponding message to the mobile phone operators on behalf of or for the relevant competent authority. 

"It is always at the discretion of the authority responsible for an incident as to whether a report is ordered via AT-Alert, and if so, when, for which area (federal state, municipality, valley) and with which text."