IT-alert today at 12 in Puglia and Veneto, but not for everyone: what changes compared to previous tests

The tests of IT-alert, the public alert service which will become fully operational next year, continue unexpectedly. Two days of unprecedented tests will begin today, which will involve Puglia, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy and Sardinia on 19 and 20 December 2023. We are talking about tests that simulate serious accidents in some industrial plants and the collapse of large dams.

Compared to previous tests, there is therefore something new: this time IT-alert will not involve the entire region, but only a limited area, the one affected by the simulated accident in question. Today, December 19th around 12:00an accident in an industrial plant will be hypothesized, and the text of the message that the citizens involved will receive is the following:

TEST TEST This is an IT-alert TEST MESSAGE. We are SIMULATING an industrial accident in the area you are in. To find out what message you will receive in the event of real danger from an industrial accident go to www.it-alert.gov.it TEST TEST

But who will receive this message? Anyone who will be within a 2 km radius of the following establishments:

• Puglia region – LyondellBasell factory, Brindisi
• Veneto Region – FIS – Fabbrica Italiana Sintetici SpA, Montecchio Maggiore (VI)

Tomorrow, December 20th, it will be the turn of the simulation of the collapse of large dams in Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy and Sardinia.

Obviously, just like in the previous tests, it is possible that the test message reaches even a little beyond the indicated area, because the telephone cellsand these have variable coverage depending on multiple factors.

The service obviously does not involve costs for the user, the only thing that is asked of interested citizens is to connect to the IT-alert site where there will be a link to a survey which serves to refine the system. Even those who, despite being in the area affected by the test, do not receive the warning message, can fill it in to report its absence.

It is also in no way a population tracking systemgiven that simply receiving an alert does not imply the sending of any data by the receiving mobile phone, and in the same way there is no way of knowing who has received the notification or not (also for this reason users are asked to fill out the questionnaire, because otherwise there is no way to get any feedback).