Korea COVID Travel BlogSo since i’ve arrived i’ve been receiving Emergency Alerts on my phone from the Korean Government. It seems the Koreans have a national emergency alert system similar to the American system called, Wireless Emergency Alerts.
Usually this is used in times of national emergency such as extreme weather or terrorist attacks, but the Korean government is using for COVID 19 alerts, however when you first get one you phone explodes with noise and flashing and they are all in Korean except the words “Emergency alert: Extreme”
Now… when you can’t understand the rest of the message this is quite an alarming thing to see on your phone! Especially in a country very close to North Korea who are known to do rocket launches!
However never fear! In South Korea there is always an app for that, and thankfully an called “Emergency Ready App” which allows me a short time later to see an English translation and to select my local region (so I don’t get too many messages).
It turns out they are telling you direct to your phone where every local outbreak is! It’s amazing that they can get the information to people so fast, and must be a big help in the fight against the virus.
However they are really specific though, and sometimes rather amusing with the translation. One I got said “Regardless of the symptoms of Ganseo-gil, (8.8), we are taking a detour with guns in Gyeongbok-gung house.”. Not sure where Gyeongbok-gung house is but i’d keep my head down if I was there!
I am beginning to find them a little annoying as they are becoming more frequent and i get them twice (once in Korean and once in English) but as a system for keeping people informed in the current situation its a great idea.
Some more information on them here
I’d probably downgrade the alert from Extreme though…
