Korean Cellphone Alerts Annoy Olympic Visitors
Since there’s been so much talk about emergency cellphone alerts lately, this NY Times article is interesting. In South Korea, notifications from local and regional governments are common. They warn about air pollution, extreme winds, earthquake activity, fires etc. In general, these emergency alerts are very helpful…that is, if you know how to read Korean!
When Cellphone Alerts “Go Bad”
Unfortunately, most athletes, employees and spectators at the Pyeongchang Olympics were not fluent in Korean, which created confusion and panic that eventually morphed into aggravation. And it’s no wonder people started getting ticked off – a whopping 14 cellphone alerts were sent in 7-day period. I’m no mathematician, but that seems like it averages two alerts each and every day. Can we say overkill, anyone?
And that’s not even the worst of it. Those unlucky enough to be in or around Olympic Park on Wednesday, February 14th received no fewer than 8 cellphone alerts, mainly warning of high winds and the threat of forest fires.
People received these alerts so frequently that they eventually tuned them out. In other words, too many cellphone alerts are actually worse than having no cellphone alerts at all. There is little doubt – when you have too much of a good thing, you have the potential for things to really “go bad.”
From a lessons-learned perspective, the government could have done a few things better regarding these alerts during the Olympic games:
- Educate people about them so they know what to expect and are less likely to experience panic or confusion.
- Reduce the alert frequency.
- Temporarily send the alerts in both Korean and English.
- Staff a call center with English speaking employees to answer questions from confused visitors regarding the alerts.
The bottom line is that cellphone alerts are useful from an emergency preparedness standpoint, but they must be deployed strategically.
