Government Explains Silent Cell Broadcast Alert During School Shooting
The government clarified that the Cell Broadcast alert during an August 7 armed incident at a Nonthaburi school was intentionally silent to avoid revealing the locations of people sheltering in place, unlike alerts for natural disasters tha
Deputy Government Spokesman Lalida Perisdwivat addressed the Cell Broadcast alert system's response to the armed incident at Thepsirin School in Nonthaburi on August 7, after many members of the public questioned why the alert lacked the distinctive alarm sound of previous system tests.
Perisdwivat explained that the choice of alert format followed safety principles and did not increase risk to people sheltering in the affected area. The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation sent alerts to mobile phones across the school grounds and a surrounding 5-kilometer radius, requesting cooperation to avoid the area and reduce public risk while facilitating emergency operations. The system allows authorities to tailor the area, format, and alert level to match each emergency type.
According to Perisdwivat, the silent alert was intentional because an audible alarm on a sheltering person's phone could reveal their location and endanger them. This differs from natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, or flash floods, which require loud alerts to prompt rapid evacuation. For armed-incident scenarios, the primary goal is to warn the public outside the zone to stay away, without creating additional risk for those already in hiding.
The government urged the public to read alert messages carefully, follow official instructions, avoid dangerous areas, and refrain from sharing images or livestreaming emergency operations, which could compromise the safety of responders and civilians. Officials said they will use lessons from this real-world deployment to continuously improve the Cell Broadcast system and enhance public safety across all emergency types.
