President Aquino has recently signed into law the Republic Act 10639 or the “The Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act,” which mandates telcos to send free SMS alerts to subscribers in the event of disasters and calamities.
According to the new law, in the event of an impending tropical storm, typhoon, tsunami, or other calamities, “mobile phone service providers are mandated to send out alerts at regular intervals as required by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHTVOLCS) and other relevant agencies.”
The alerts =shall be at no cost to the consumers and shall include contact information of local government units and other agencies required to respond to the situation, other relevant information such as, but not limited to, evacuation areas, relief sites and pick-up points.
The alerts may be in the form of SMS (text messages), MMS, or email, as needed and appropriate.
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Another sample text recieve..
Warning… Typhoon yolanda is coming back…
Donations will be given this saturday,
Paid by friends of ###############
SAMPLE TEXT WARNING>>
Warning.. a typhoon with signal#4 entering Phil Area of Responsibility.
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Free emergency message? I hope NTC would monitor those Telco’s on how they send messages like these to consumers…..
SIM REGISTRATION ang kailangan po.
Eh? Whatever for? Ano kinalaman ng disaster alert sa SIM registration?
@Silverlokk: Please just use tagalog words… LOL.. what do you mean by Whatever for? @_@
telcos wheel included of VAS or text promos true that disaster.alert.