NDRRMC Alert: A Text Message You Shouldn't Ignore

Did the NDRRMC have sent out a notice to you today? It's impossible to miss if you receive one as the ringtone for the alarm comes close to giving us a heart attack! Well, this only means that the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council or NDRRMC is executing its job as the government's disaster preparation well.

National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council Emergency Alerts

The southwest monsoon or hanging habagat rains and thunderstorms, which are all too typical throughout the rainy season, are joined by the approximately 20 tropical cyclones that pass through our country each year.

This is the reason why emergency mobile alerts are sent out by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) to warn the public of what to anticipate and what to do in case of a disaster.

The NDRRMC and telecommunications firms are legally mandated to transmit free mobile notifications prior to catastrophes. Republic Act No. 10639, or the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act, mandates that this be done.

Wondering how it works? Let's take a look below.

How emergency alerts work

Every time PAGASA or Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration issues an alert, the NDRRMC immediately crafts a message to send to all the country's telecommunications companies, who then forward it to their clients. It might take up to ten minutes to write and send an alert message to the National Telecommunications Commission or telcos.

Based on PAGASA rainfall advisories, the NDRRMC delivers mobile notifications to telco customers. In addition, advice from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on earthquakes, tsunami warnings, and volcanic activity may also be used to issue emergency alerts.

When receiving emergency alerts from NDRRMC, it is important for us to know the different Rainfall Warning Levels and their meanings.

Rainfall warnings and their meanings

In general, the NDRRMC rainfall warning advisory is easy to understand, but what do the different colors of NDRRMC rainfall warning mean? These are the color codes used by PAGASA in the Philippines in their rain warning system. As far as flooding is concerned, they provide a detailed account of the current conditions. Community members should familiarize themselves with these color codes as a guide for what they need to do.

There are three color codes that PAGASA is using:

• Yellow – Community Awareness

• Orange – Community Alert/Preparedness

• Red – Community Response

Keep in mind that the darker the color, the more hazardous the situation is in the impacted area.

Yellow Rainfall Warning

A Yellow Rainfall Warning alert issued by Philippine Atmospheric Administration (PAGASA) indicates that heavy rains have occurred and are expected to persist for the next three hours. If you live in a low-lying locations, you may be at risk of flooding.

In this situation, everyone in the affected area should be on the lookout for weather conditions and keep an eye on the forecasts.

Orange Rainfall Warning

Wondering about the meaning of an orange rain warning? This means that for the next three hours, expect intense rains if you get this NDRRMC alert on your smartphone. There is also a real danger of flooding in low-lying locations and those that are close to river systems.

Hence, be ready. Those living in locations at risk of flooding should be prepared to evacuate if the need arises.

Red Rainfall Warning

As soon as mobile phone users get a red rainfall warning, you may expect severe rains to persist for at least three more hours.

You must act fast in light of the impending catastrophic floods. Locals in the vulnerable regions should also begin evacuating right at once.

Importance of NDRRMC alerts and why we must not ignore it

It is important to take the NDRRMC warnings seriously, however how annoying and disturbing they may be, even when you are in the middle of a good night sleep. Believe us, we do understand!

Due to this, you might be wondering why the rainfall warning alerts should be so loud and panic-inducing. Well, the NDRRMC is aware of this, and it's designed to make people feel as though they need to act now. Until you check your messages, your phone will continue to ring and vibrate nonstop incessantly in your hand.

The NDRRMC pushes you to pay special attention to its warnings so that you may instantly prepare for any catastrophe for civil defense, such as evacuating your family and putting your automobile in a more secure area.

Remember how unprepared Metro Manila and the other impacted provinces were in 2009 when Tropical Storm Ondoy hit? Families would have spared more lives and property if they had gotten early warnings about the dangers of flooding back then.

Even though it's more convenient to ignore the emergency warnings on your phone, think about what may happen if you aren't aware of and prepared for floods and other disasters. It's always better to be warned ahead of time than to wait until your house is completely submerged before you evacuate your family.

On the other hand, there is a good likelihood that if you got a warning within a few hours of it being issued, you received it over text messages or SMS rather than via CBS.

The Emergency Alerts or Cell Broadcast feature is available to Android users via the messaging settings. Meanwhile, in order to activate Emergency Alerts on iOS, you must upgrade to the current version of the operating system by going to your iPhone's Settings, then Notifications, and scroll down to find AMBER Alerts, Emergency Alerts, and Test Message. Tap to turn it on.

Too bad, due to the fact that not all phones are CBS-compliant, there are no easy workarounds for delayed warnings at this time. But you can still keep yourself updated by using alternative sources of information through social media.

If you can't receive the NDRRMC alert in a timely manner, you can keep yourself updated by being proactive in checking the PAGASA and Phivolcs Facebook and Twitter official accounts to stay up to date with the current advisories that they have.

It's cool to know that technology these days allows us to receive hazard specific alerts during natural calamities. It can give us some peace of mind that we have enough time to prepare and evacuate if needed.

Another way to gain peace of mind is when you are living in a community that has a strong network signal aside and a flood-free area.

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