, Singapore

Public to get red alerts via SMS if a major emergency happens

The feature is already available to StarHub subscribers.

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean unveiled an SMS-based alert system that will notify people during major emergencies.

The sytem was launched at Pasir Ris West’s Emergency Preparedness Day, which was held on Saturday at an open field beside Pasir Ris MRT station.

The SMS alert is a feature available to StarHub subscribers since August and has been used by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in two separate incidents in a trial. One was at The CK Building fire in Tampines on Aug 17 and the other one was at Jurong West market fire on Oct 11.

The two other telcos, Singtel and M1, are working with MHA to integrate the app to their system by end of 2017.

Regardless of whether they use a 2G, 3G or 4G phone, all prepaid and post-paid subscribers will be receiving SMS alerts from the number 71250. Travellers roaming on one of the three telco service providers will also receive alerts.

Join Singapore Business Review community
Join Singapore Business Review community
A NOTE FROM SINGAPORE BUSINESS REVIEW

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.