Extreme weather alerts to ‘break’ on TV, radio

NEW DELHI: Soon, television screens will flash warning messages about the impending extreme weather events in the country and songs on radio will be cut short to make way for urgent alerts.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has recently started sending text messages on mobile phones to disseminate critical information about heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and heat wave, among others.

It now plans to expand the warning system to television, radio and other mediums to ensure citizens are promptly informed and better prepared for severe weather, according to officials.

“The text-based system is part of phase one of the project. TV, radio and other mediums are being covered in phase two which will be implemented by the end of the year,” a senior NDMA official said.

With the amalgamation of technology and communication, the NDMA aims to surpass the limitations of text-based warnings, he said.

Before text messages, the NDMA used to issue such early warnings through the ‘National Disaster Alert Portal’ and a mobile application called “Sachet”.

The agency had conceived the “Common Alerting Protocol Based Integrated Alert System” to bring together the alert generating agencies, including India Meteorological Department, Central Water Commission, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services and Forest Survey of India, alert disseminating agencies and state disaster management authorities.

The Centre sanctioned the pan-India implementation of the first phase of the project in 2021 following a successful pilot project in Tamil Nadu.