Thailand to test disaster alerts after deadly quake

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Thailand will conduct tests of a cellphone disaster alert system, senior officials said on Wednesday, after criticism that no alarm was sent after last month's deadly Myanmar earthquake caused damage in Bangkok.

Director General of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) Phasakorn Boonyalak said the Cell Broadcast System (CBS) will undergo a test run next month in localised areas including the sprawling capital, which was badly shaken by the 7.7-magnitude quake in neighbouring Myanmar.

The system will use three mobile networks to send warning messages “quickly and with wide coverage, both on natural disaster and security threats”, he told a news conference.

Starting on May 2 with the smallest target area -- four city hall buildings -- there will be three test runs, with the third and largest drill covering the whole of Bangkok and Chiang Mai provinces on May 13.

Residents’ cellphones will get a pop-up message on their screens in Thai and English, accompanied by a siren, Phasakorn said.

The message will read: “This is a test message from Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, no action required.”