2023-10-17 02:56:10
Cell Broadcast is intended to provide the public with early warning of emergencies such as natural disasters or rampages. However, the alert system apparently did not work properly during the carnage at a Jehovah’s Witness church in Hamburg on March 9, 2023. As a result, Telefónica users did not receive any alerts.
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On March 9, 2023, Philipp F. went on a rampage in a Jehovah’s Witness church, killing a total of seven people and, as a result, himself. Experience shows that such outbursts are very obscure in the first minutes. It was the same last week in Hamburg. As Spiegel reports, police initially assumed there were two perpetrators due to incorrect information from the public. Authorities responded quickly and were asked to issue a general warning to the public via cell broadcast. However, the technology’s debut, launched on February 23, 2023, has made it clear that the system is far from bug-free.
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Finally, the warning titled “Danger from a life-threatening situation” did not reach all smartphone users in the affected district of Alsterdorf. In fact, those who use the Telefónica network have not received the warning message. The company itself confirmed the incident and apologized for the outage. Telefónica does not, however, explain why this happened. In its report, Der Spiegel also states that the competent Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance states that the company is currently still in the “transition to the efficient operation of cellular broadcasting”. . As a result, the “necessary adjustments” still need to be made.
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Germany is late
While authorities in this country are still “transitioning to efficient operation,” the technology has sometimes been used in other countries for several years. The disastrous floods in the Ahr Valley in 2021 have clearly shown that cellular broadcasting is also important in Germany. After all, automated alerts might have saved many lives back then. In addition to the network operator, it is also the cell phone model that determines whether Cell Broadcast works or not. You can find out which smartphones are compatible with this technology on the website of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance.
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