Why are heatwave alerts being ignored? 57.7% say there are simply too many

More than half of the people who did not receive or read heatwave disaster alerts said the notifications came too often. The finding has raised calls for disaster information to be delivered in ways tailored to individual characteristics.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency held a climate-health forum in Seoul with the Korean Society for Preventive Medicine. The event examined ways to advance climate-health impact assessments and brought together experts to discuss research and policy responses to the climate crisis.

Professor Yoo Myung-soon of Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Public Health presented survey results on perceptions of heatwave risks and their implications for communicating about the climate crisis. Researchers surveyed 2,000 adults aged 19 and older across South Korea from April 13 to 20.

Among those surveyed, 5.9% said they never received heatwave disaster alerts, while 13.3% said they received them but did not read them. The excerpt states that 57.7% of people in the group who did not receive or read the alerts cited the excessive frequency of messages and notifications.