Student A (Dept. of Media and Communication, 23) discovered, through a friend, that an emergency alert warning of an earthquake was sent recently. Even though it would lead to casualties, A did not recognize it because there was no alert on A’s phone. A said, “I was wondering why I did not receive any alerts even in the situation of an earthquake, but soon I remembered myself blocking the emergency alert which had been sent too frequently.”

According to the analyses from Google Trends and Naver DataLab, the search volume for the phrase reached its maximum in 2020, when the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Korea occurred. It is because the number of emergency messages surged 131 times on an annual average for three years after the COVID-19 outbreak, which can be confirmed by the “current status of emergency alert broadcasting system” released by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS). An analysis by the National Disaster Management Research Institute (NDMI) revealed a significant reluctance toward emergency messages particularly among the younger population, who use mobile phones a lot.

From August 6th to 17th, “Channel PNU” conducted the “survey on disaster alert reception.” Out of 150 respondents, 28.7% (43 individuals) answered that they “currently do not receive disaster alerts.” Among 62 students who remembered when they blocked them, 35 individuals, exceeding the majority of them, stated that they blocked the alerts in 2021 and 2022, right after the COVID-19 outbreak.

■Blocked Disaster Alerts Because of the “Noise”

In the survey, out of 77 responses (multiple responses allowed) regarding the reasons for turning off the disaster alerts, 85.7% (66 responses) accounted for an overwhelming proportion with “because they were too noisy.” It was followed by “because they repeat the same information” at 33.8% (26 responses), “because they send excessive irrelevant information” at 31.2% (24 responses), and “because they do not inform the specific way to respond to the disasters” at 19.5% (15 responses).

The general response indicates that the notification sound of emergency alerts is perceived as excessive. Currently, disaster alerts are categorized into three types based on the severity of the disaster: extreme emergency alerts, emergency alerts, and public safety alerts. Extreme emergency alerts and emergency alerts are noticed with the unchangeable sound, which is respectively 60dB and 40dB. In particular, emergency alerts encompass a wide range of categories such as earthquakes, typhoons, heatwaves, and infectious diseases, which leads to significant discomfort due to the loud notification sound being triggered each time. Student B, one of the survey participants, said, “The notification sound of disaster alerts is excessively loud. It is necessary to maintain an appropriate alert sound level while allowing adjustment of notification sounds and vibrations to a level that does not disrupt daily life.”

Some argue that people are blocking the alerts because it is easy to block. They can turn off the emergency alerts and public safety alerts by simply turning off the alert permit in the emergency message settings. Student C said, “Instead of making the blocking method easy, functions are needed that enable us to adjust notification settings in detail.”

■“Please Improve the Disaster Alerts”

There is a strong call for detailed improvement of functions that enable adjusting notification settings about disaster alerts. In the survey “Channel PNU” conducted, 77.3% (116 individuals) out of a total 150 expressed that they want the functions to be improved. For desired improvements for functions (multiple responses allowed), the demanded options were mostly about adjusting details. The top three options were “ability to set the types of disasters they want to receive alerts for” (75 responses), “ability to set the regions for receiving alerts” (59 responses), and “ability to set the time frames for receiving messages” (23 responses). Student D, who participated in the survey, said, “I cannot feel the seriousness of the emergency alerts as they repeat and provide trivial information with little relevance to the situation.”

In response to this, experts explained that it currently has technical challenges to implement individualized settings. Pyo Kyeong-Su (Head, Disaster ICT Research Team) said, “The disaster alerts messages are sent in a one-to-many broadcasting model through mobile carriers’ base stations, and it makes it difficult to provide individualized settings.”

■Does Refusal of Emergency Alerts Result in Economic Losses? 

Experts warn that an increasing number of individuals refusing to receive emergency alerts can lead to significant societal and economic losses. According to the “Economic Analysis of the Disaster Alerts Messages,” a study conducted by the Korean Association of Public Finance in 2022, for each transmission of an emergency alert, the cost of disaster recovery decreases by approximately 100 million won. When calculated for a year, this results in a reduction of around 270 billion won in disaster recovery costs, indicating that emergency alerts have significant economic benefits.

Head Pyo said, “Some may perceive emergency alerts as causing superficial discomfort and fatigue. However, they have significant effects on both public safety and socio-economic aspects. If the majority of people refuse to receive emergency alerts, the necessity of broadcasting them would diminish, and in extreme cases, the emergency alert policy might be discontinued.”

To address the issue of people refusing to receive emergency alerts, the MOIS announced the “Improvement Plan for Standards of Disaster Alerts” in May. The plan outlines improvements in four major areas: earthquakes, extreme heavy rainfall, heavy snowfall, and missing person alerts. In each four areas, the plan includes the following enhancements: improvement of setting local level and clarification of earthquake information issuance in local areas, direct issuance of emergency alerts by the Korea Meteorological Administration to residents in high-risk areas, restricting the issuance of alerts except instances of road closures and avoiding simple broadcasts, and providing information through a separate "Amber Channel" in addition to public safety alerts.

Experts suggest the necessity of encouraging individuals who have refused to receive disaster alerts to reconsider their decision. Pyo said, “We need to conduct a thorough review and research on the reasons why people refuse to receive emergency alerts and formulate measures accordingly. A reorganization of sending format and standards for the disaster alerts is needed. Furthermore, surveys and research hearing the public must follow to make political and technological solutions that users want.”

Reporter Cho Young-Min

Translated by Lee Soo-Hyun