According to the Minister of the Interior, Lauri Läänemets, it was an inevitable development which in the future will provide an opportunity to inform residents of a threat quickly and concretely. "The SMS notification states what the threat is and the specific area of danger, the main behavioural recommendations, the expected timeframe, the notifying authority and the possibilities for obtaining further information," explained the Minister of the Interior.
The technical solution for the hazard alert was developed by the Ministry of Economy and Communications, the Ministry of the Interior and the State Infocommunication Foundation (RIKS) in cooperation with the Emergency Response Centre and the IT and Development Centre of the Ministry of the Interior (SMIT). An important role as a partner is played by mobile operators who are the only ones who have the right to process their customers' data in order to send messages to people in an area of danger.
According to the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology, Kristjan Järvan, the technical readiness was actually achieved through efficient cooperation between several institutions before Christmas last year but the Electronic Communications Act, which entered into force today, was needed to provide the legal basis for sending such messages. "Another example of how, by setting the right priorities, it is possible to make the necessary IT solutions at an accelerated pace without losing quality and make an important contribution to the development of the country," said Järvan, who also recognised RIKS, which developed the technical solution for the hazard alert system.
While SMIT is responsible for the maintenance of the necessary platforms and several new developments, the confirmation function, and above all communications with residents, remains the responsibility of the Emergency Response Centre. Further information after the message can be obtained from the state helpline 1247.
The undersecretary for Rescue and Crisis Management, Viola Murd, admitted that further practice will develop over time through specific situations when hazard alert messages must be sent, but residents must be prepared anyway. "The person or institution in charge of resolving the event can make a decision to send a hazard alert. Recent examples from the region near Estonia include the explosion of a gas pipeline in Lithuania and the threat of flooding in a city in Latvia. We also had events last year where hazard alerts could have been used; for example, various warehouse and bog fires, the storm Birgit or the coastal pollution in Hiiumaa," explained Murd.
According to the Minister of the Interior, Lauri Läänemets, it is still only one piece of the puzzle in the overall picture of protecting the population. "The broader concept includes many more elements, such as sirens, shelters, general awareness raising for residents, crisis preparedness in local authorities, adequate availability of the necessary supplies and other national alerts. Based on this, I have also proposed to allocate 0.5% of GDP as permanent funding for civil protection for the long term, so that we can ensure better protection of the Estonian people in any danger situation or crisis," said Läänemets.
