A loud emergency alert sound triggered panic among mobile users across India on Saturday morning as phones suddenly buzzed with a test notification. The message, labelled “Extremely severe alert,” was part of a government trial of a new Cell Broadcast-based disaster warning system. It stated that India is launching an indigenous technology for instant disaster alerts and clearly mentioned that no action was required from the public. Authorities said the system is being tested nationwide before its official launch, with messages sent in different languages. The exercise is being carried out by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in line with international standards. Officials have urged citizens to ignore such alerts during testing as similar trials will continue across the country.
