CBE and SMS to be introduced to tackle disasters, says Paetongtarn

Virtual Cell Broadcast (CBE) and SMS will be used to mitigate disasters while awaiting the availability of Cell Broadcast (CB), Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said on Monday.

The Prime Minister stated that the urgent meeting with relevant agencies aimed to review lessons learned from the earthquake that occurred last Friday and identify improvements to the notification system.

She explained that CB, which will be used to send short messages to all mobile users, will be available in July this year. Relevant agencies had discussed ways to mitigate the impact of disasters before the service becomes operational, she said.Paetongtarn outlined steps to be taken moving forward, including changes to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to ensure messages are sent immediately, without the need for approval from relevant agencies, which could take up to an hour.

The message format will be established promptly. It will be concise and easy to understand, with clear instructions on what to do in the event of an earthquake, she explained.

The Prime Minister added that CBE would be used while awaiting CB’s availability, facilitating the sending of notifications to 70 million Android mobile users. SMS notifications will initially be sent to 50 million iOS mobile users, she added.

She also mentioned that the Digital Economy and Society  Ministry and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will negotiate with Apple to allow the CBE service for iOS mobile users.Paetongtarn confirmed that CB is one of the ways to notify the public about disasters, and the government also has other platforms for disseminating information, such as Line, Facebook, and the Television Pool of Thailand.

She assured that CB would help notify mobile users quickly, whether for floods or storms. The phone will emit a sound, even if it is set to silent, to remind users of important notifications, she added.



Earlier in the meeting, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) reported that it had received an SMS about Friday’s earthquake from the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) at 1.36pm. In response, DDPM sent the first SMS to the public at 2.40pm.

However, Paetongtarn stated that SMS notifications should be sent within five minutes of an incident, noting that these messages should contain two to three sentences to allow people to evacuate buildings.

Sarana Boonbaichaiyapruck, Chairman of the NBTC, said that it had prepared a notification format, as mobile operators can send SMS messages with only 70 characters.

A representative from Advanced Info Services (AIS) stated that SMS messages had not been prepared during the incident on Friday. However, the company confirmed that it has a system in place to send notifications to 30 million numbers within an hour.

Meanwhile, a representative from True highlighted the importance of knowing the number of recipients, noting that it took about an hour to check the number of recipients in Bangkok and surrounding areas in order to meet DDPM’s order.

The Prime Minister concluded by saying that sending SMS notifications is a proactive tool for warning people of events such as earthquakes, like the one that occurred this morning, and should clearly communicate that it is not an earthquake.

(2025/03/31-00:00)