Emergency Alert TXT message error sent by MCDEM

Emergency Alert TXT message error sent by MCDEM

Emergency Alert TXT message, sent by the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM)

Last night at approximately 1:30am many of our customers received an Emergency Alert TXT message in error from the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management.

It is important to clarify the Ministry takes full responsibility for sending this error TXT message. It was accidentally initiated by one of the Ministry’s overseas technology suppliers, and not Vodafone or any of the other ISPs involved in the project.

The test TXT message was sent to the public in error when it was supposed to be restricted to a contained environment. The end result is that many New Zealanders were woken from their sleep between 1.30am and 2am.

Vodafone acknowledges the Ministry’s efforts to explain the error and apologise to our customers. We will continue working with the industry and the Ministry of Civil Defence to ready the alert system before the end of the year. The system is known as Emergency Mobile Alerts.

Once it is up and running, this will be a potentially lifesaving alert system that will send text alerts to mobile phones that are Cell Broadcast enabled. It will provide another important tool to help Kiwis stay safe during emergencies.

ENDS.

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