In the near future, mobile phone users will receive text messages from their mobile service providers about disasters when they occur, under a new plan from Ho Chi Minh City authorities.
Residents to be warned of quakes, tsunami through SMS
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s committee has issued a plan to “prevent, respond to and overcome consequences of earthquakes and tsunamis in the city.”
The agency directing the plan is the Steering Committee for Floods and Storms Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue.
All concerned agencies must prepare themselves to take part in the plan under two principles: “four on spot” (command, force, facilities and expenditure), and “three on ready” (prevention, response and remedies).
Upon receipt of earthquake and tsunami information from the committee, the city Television Station and the city Radio Voice of HCMC People will stop broadcasting their regular programming and air the news about the natural disasters.
The city Department of Information and Communications must ask mobile information service providers to set up specific systems for sending text messages about disasters to their subscribers.
Meanwhile, the city Department of Construction must examine degraded high-rises so that they can be repaired, and must provide instructions on designing structural systems that can mitigate the impact of earthquakes.
The plan also includes earthquake and tsunami scenarios along with drills to improve the city’s response to disasters.
According to the city People’s Committee the metropolis lies on the Saigon River fault, which can cause earthquakes of up to 5.5 degrees on the Richter scale and vibration level 7 in the city and nearby areas.