DistantNews
Support us
🇸🇪 Sweden /Disasters & Emergencies

Millions of Swedes to receive new emergency alert on their phones

From Dagens Nyheter · () Swedish

Translated from Swedish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Sweden will test its new VMA mobile alert system at 3 p.m. on Monday in Stockholm and Gotland, reaching an estimated 2.6 million phones and possibly neighboring counties.
  • The alert will use a loud signal and vibration, even when phones are set to silent or airplane mode, and will operate independently of SMS networks.
  • Roks warns that the sound could expose hidden phones used by women under the control of abusive partners, while Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin says advance notice allows people to switch off their devices if necessary.

At 3 p.m. on Monday, millions of phones across Stockholm and Gotland will suddenly sound and vibrate. Sweden is testing a new mobile warning system for air raids, crises and other immediate dangers, alongside the outdoor siren known as Hesa Fredrik.

This is a new part of our alerting chain. Not much has happened with it since the Cold War. With new technology, we get an effective and precise way to reach people.

· Carl-Oskar BohlinSweden’s civil defence minister described the new mobile warning system.

The alert will reach updated mobile phones, smartwatches and tablets located in Stockholm and Gotland, which form part of the country’s eastern civil-defence area. The Civil Contingencies Agency estimates that 2.6 million people will receive it, with signals potentially reaching neighboring counties as well. The message heading may appear in English, but the body will be in Swedish.

Unlike an SMS, the warning does not depend on messages moving through a heavily loaded mobile network. Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin pointed to the fire at a public swimming facility in Gothenburg, when some emergency text messages reportedly took up to 24 hours to reach everyone. “Then it loses its effectiveness,” he said.

We know that when a perpetrator controls a woman, he often controls her regular phone as well.

· Adine SamadiThe Roks chair warned that emergency alerts could expose phones hidden by women facing abuse.

The system’s ability to sound even when a phone is on silent or airplane mode has prompted a warning from Roks, the national organization for women’s and girls’ shelters. Adine Samadi, Roks’ chair, said perpetrators who control women often monitor their regular phones. Some women keep a second phone hidden, she said, and an unexpected alert could reveal it. Others might discard the device out of fear, cutting off a vital link to the outside world.

Then she loses contact with the outside world, which is necessary to leave such a relationship.

· Adine SamadiSamadi described the danger if a woman discards a hidden phone after it sounds.

Samadi wants authorities to notify Roks well before future tests, but says real emergencies would offer no warning about the time or day of an alert. Bohlin said advance information about Monday’s test gives people who face a risk the option of turning off their phones. He described the system as one intended only for imminent danger, where authorities must weigh its overall benefit against individual risks.

This system will only be used in cases of acute, imminent danger. Naturally, there is a trade-off in which the overall assessment must be made.

· Carl-Oskar BohlinBohlin addressed the balance between broad public warnings and individual risks.
About this summary

Originally published by Dagens Nyheter in Swedish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog