1 week Ago By The Sofia Globe staff
Most people in Bulgaria did not receive messages on their phones during a scheduled test of the BG-Alert system on October 17, going by news websites reports and social media posts. The test was previously announced as to be held between 1pm and 1.30pm on October 17.
The Sofia Globe spent 30 minutes in a large supermarket in the centre of the Bulgarian capital city to observe shoppers’ reactions to receiving the signal, but there were no reactions to observe. The half-an-hour passed with no customers, among the large lunchtime crowd, receiving an audible signal. The meteo.
bg Facebook page conducted an online poll asking people whether they had received a message from BG-Alert. In the first hour after the poll opened, 5055 people voted, with 97 per cent saying that they had received nothing. Bulgarian media reports said that of those who did receive a message, some got a text but no audio signal, and even fewer had their phones vibrating.
Reports said that the issue was that to receive the test message, an additional setup on a smartphone is required, though no such additional setup is required to receive a message in the event of a genuine emergency. This was the second attempt recently to check the technical readiness of the system. The test initially was scheduled to have taken place on October 1, but that was postponed at short notice that day because of the conflict in the Middle East and a concern not to cause panic among the public in Bulgaria.
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