The State Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is exploring the possibilities of implementing partially automated warning messages using Cell Broadcast technology in Latvia, Deputy Head of the SFRS Ivars Nakurts said on Monday in the "Morning Panorama" program, LETA reports.
According to him, the automation of message distribution is being considered, whereby in certain cases alerts will be sent upon the occurrence of specific conditions; however, to prevent misunderstandings, human control is planned to be maintained.
The service has already prepared templates for warning messages for various situations. Exercises for distributing such notifications are planned for April.
Speaking about the recent drone incident, during which warning messages were not sent, Nakurts noted that in this case, the decision to distribute should have been made by the National Armed Forces, but they did not have enough time during the incident, and after the drone explosion, it was not deemed necessary to send a warning.
As reported earlier, last week drones flew into and exploded in all three Baltic countries. They were likely aimed at targets in Russia during the defense of Ukraine against Russian aggression, but went off course or were diverted by electronic warfare means.
Representatives of the Baltic states emphasized that this is a consequence of Russia's full-scale aggression and that such incidents may recur.
Several politicians acknowledged that the warning messages using Cell Broadcast technology should have been activated in connection with the drone crash in the Kraslava region.
Cell Broadcast is a technology for instant message distribution to all mobile devices within the coverage area of specific base stations. Unlike SMS, it operates on a radio principle: alerts arrive within seconds even during network overload, do not require the internet, and are displayed with a loud sound.
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