site.btaTest of BG-Alert Notification System Reported Successful

A Thursday test of the disaster notification system BG-Alert is reported to have been successful. The Interior Ministry's DG Fire Safety and Population Protection told BTA that the system and equipment were found to be operating "according to expectations".

Functional tests of the early warning and notification system were scheduled to be conducted across the country on Thursday between 1 and 1:30 p.m. The announcement said that every mobile phone in Bulgaria should receive a text message in Bulgarian and English, with sound alert and vibrations.

Asked by BTA why many people did not get the message on their phones, the DG Fire Service and Population Protection said that the likely reason is that those people's devices are not set up to receive such warnings and alerts. To receive alerts, a phone needs have a Cell Broadcast function; to have a recent operating system; to be at a location with network coverage, among others.

Asked how many people exactly got the test alert, they said that the BG-Alert system is for one-way communication and there is no way they can know how many people received the message.