The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) in Thailand will conduct the country’s first tests of an emergency alert system via Cell Broadcast on May 2, 7, and 13. Officials are urging the public not to panic if they receive test alerts on their mobile phones.
The tests will be carried out at three levels: small (indoors), medium (district level), and large (province level). People in the designated test areas will receive alerts through Cell Broadcast on their mobile phones, which will include both sound notifications and text messages on the screen.
The first test, at the indoor level, will take place at 1:00 PM on Friday, May 2. The locations include provincial halls in Chiang Rai, Ubon Ratchathani, Suphan Buri, and Songkhla, as well as Buildings A and B of the Government Complex in Chaeng Watthana, Bangkok.
The medium-level test will be held at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, May 7. The areas include Mueang Districts in Lampang, Nakhon Sawan, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Surat Thani, as well as Din Daeng District in Bangkok.
The final and largest-scale test is scheduled for 1:00 PM on Tuesday, May 13. It will cover the provinces of Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Nakhon Si Thammarat, and Bangkok.
In the event of a real emergency, the alert tone will vary depending on the severity, but it will not interfere with regular phone usage. The testing and implementation are a joint effort between the DDPM, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), and mobile network providers.
DDPM Director-General Phasakorn Boonyalak explained that the Cell Broadcast system allows for rapid and accurate delivery of emergency alerts to specific areas. However, it currently supports only 4G and 5G smartphones. Android devices must be running version 11 or higher, while iPhones must be updated to iOS 18.
Older phones, including those on 2G or 3G networks and iPhones older than the iPhone X that cannot be upgraded to iOS 18, will receive alerts via SMS. Messages will be sent by network operators based on instructions from the DDPM.
Tourists in Thailand who activate roaming services or use temporary SIM cards will also receive alerts if they are in affected areas.
Suttisak Tantayothin, Deputy Secretary-General of the NBTC, added that discussions are ongoing with LINE and Facebook Thailand to enable emergency alerts via their apps. Once developed, this would allow government agencies to send alerts through those platforms as well.