- Tired New Zealanders woken up by mass SMS emergency alarm trial
- The bulk messages was sent out by the country’s Ministry for Civil Defence
- People were unhappy with the timing of the alert and vented on social media
Tired Kiwis were given a rude awakening as the country’s civil defence ministry sent out a mass text message in the early hours of the morning.
The text message was an emergency alert from New Zealand’s Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, and was sent out in bulk at 1.30am on Wednesday.
‘This is a test message for the Emergency Mobile Alert system that will be available by the end of 2017,’ the first line read.
Tired Kiwis were given a rude awakening as the country’s civil defence ministry sent out a mass text message in the early hours of the morning
The text message was an emergency alert from New Zealand’s Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, and was sent out in bulk at 1.30am on Wednesday
‘Visit civildefence.govt.nz to find out more. Sent by the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management.’
The timing of the alert jolted people out of bed, and they were quick to voice their displeasure with having their midweek sleep interrupted.
‘Dear @NZcivildefence, thanks for testing your mobile emergency alert system at 01:30AM. The whole house is awake now. #muppets’ Michael Emery tweeted.
Others didn’t realise straight away that the alert was just a test.
‘I just got an emergency test alert sent to my phone? Scared the s**t out of me,’ one person tweeted, while another said it ‘gave me a heart attack’.
The timing of the alert jolted people out of bed, and they were quick to voice their displeasure with having their midweek sleep interrupted
Some people received the alert more than once, much to the recipients’ displeasure
Some people received the alert more than once, much to the recipients’ displeasure.
Nick Johnston said he turned his phone’s alert notifications off after receiving the message three times, twice at 1.32am and again at 1.49am.