MARIEL R.
  • Blog
    • Second Blog
  • Happy Horse
  • Published
    • Free Stories >
      • Some Things Never Change
      • The Real Thing
      • For You, Mother
      • Meat Head the Worst Dog in the World
      • Boys As Nice as John
      • Meat Head
  • About
  • Green Gecko Publishing

South Korea = "Emergencies" R' Us

8/8/2015

 
"Beeeeeeeeeeep!" says my phone.
"!$#$!," I say, and shout "Stop it at my phone." 

It's a familiar sound  associated closely with cartoon interruptions,  "This a test of the emergency broadcast system. This is only a test" and the less frequent actual tornado warning. South Korea sent me it's first emergency alert text a few months ago at about 2Am. I awakened, stared groggily at my phone, saw a message all in Korean, and decided that if North Korea was attacking South Korea, I'd hear about in the morning. A week later I remembered to ask what my text said. It was a Mers health advisory.

The emergency alert texts have been picking up of late. Today we got two separate ones five minutes apart with a heat advisory in two different provinces. The whole office was buzzing as all of our phones when off and we all uttered sounds of annoyance. 

South Korea really hasn't thought this out. For example, a heat advisory is not an emergency. Texting heat advisories is not a bad things but combining it with the emergency alert sound... the old story of the boy who cried wolf, only this time it's a nation. And what happens when there's a real emergency? People will be so used to ignoring their phone when they hear that sound, they'll look at the message when it's convenient or delete it without looking, rendering what could be a great system pointless.

Comments are closed.
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Mariel R. is an ESL teacher, horse trainer, writer, editor, sporadic blogger,  and lover of beer. She lives in South Korea with two house cats, three horses, a German Shepherd and three barn cats .

    Picture
    Bear (Gom in Korean) )
    Picture
    Yeongji
    Picture
    Oreo
    Picture
    Panther
    Picture
    Thor
    Picture
    Thunder
    Picture
    Super
    Picture
    Rex
    Picture
    Geumbi (Goldy in English) R.I.P February, 23, 2018
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Advice
    Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award
    Authonomy
    Author Interviews
    Awards
    Bear
    Cats
    Contests
    Contest Winners
    Getting Published
    Guest Posts
    ICANN
    Icon Not Find It
    I Learned Something New
    Kindle Scout
    Misc
    National Identity Crisis
    Observations
    People I Respect Very Much
    Pets
    Rejections
    Reviews
    Site Outage
    South Korea
    Web.com
    Weebly
    Weebly Woes
    WHOIS
    Words That Amuse Me
    Writing
    Writing Woes

    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011


Photos used under Creative Commons from cotaroba, Juliana Coutinho, Dare*2*Dream, Brett Jordan, plasticrevolver, Elvert Barnes, Dan-Scape.co.uk, Camp of Champions, Rowdy Rider, timsamoff, TiffanyMichelle Photography, expertinfantry, stormwarning., VarsityLife, Instagram: Brunobrunan, woodleywonderworks, HotlantaVoyeur, Ally Mauro, eBomb716, kalleboo, 1la, DonkeyHotey, trekkyandy, Dita Margarita, ZeroOne, Marina Aguiar Araujo, You Have Reached The End of The Internet, InSapphoWeTrust, Nina J. G., One Way Stock, Ronnie Garcia, +Angst, Anika Malone, evolvingblue, porschelinn, Horia Varlan, Fred Jala, Dyl86, Cia de Foto, mootown, boolve, final gather, Hexidecimal, Arya Ziai, h.koppdelaney, Fan of Retail, (Domino), Celeste Vasconcelos, I .. C .. U, Nomadic Lass, Risager, taylorpad212, Benny(I am empty), Nomadic Lass, aloshbennett, Ben Mortimer Photography, Suedehead, Kyknoord, Lunar Logic, simononly, mike138, Tim Sheerman-Chase, Rusty Clark, papalars, rocketjim54, dno1967b, Tomasz Stasiuk, Robert S. Donovan, Merelymel13, Crystl, Tirso Lecointere, Leo Hidalgo (@yompyz), david_shankbone, gpatague online porfolio, petersejersen, wadem, mikecogh, ravijain_92, mynameisharsha, World Series Boxing, Jackie L Chan, greggman, saebaryo, All Kinds of New, Dwilliams851, cuatrok77, woodleywonderworks, Alex E. Proimos, Average Jane, gagilas, LifeSupercharger, Incase., Robin Hutton, THX0477, greenchartreuse, BrtinBoston, Trev Grant, CocteauBoy, dno1967b, Matt Erasmus, Tax Credits, Josh (broma), Phillip Pessar, MoToMo, barmala, Steve Snodgrass, Ross Elliott, cell105, Hunter-Desportes, *clairity*, fauxto_digit, Hugo90, tauben, rococohobo, Spencer Cross, alexliivet, HelloImNik, br1dotcom, Jorge Franganillo, علي - ali, olgaberrios, glennharper, kyeniz, cogito ergo imago, chris.corwin, BagoGames, brewbooks, ϟnapshot 19, Pop Culture Geek, rockmixer, jphilipg, qwrrty, noniq, e53, 'Playingwithbrushes', Marcus Q, lowjumpingfrog, ingermaaike2, Bob Jagendorf, allaboutgeorge, mgrybos, Images_of_Money, Tambako the Jaguar, Foxtongue, DBduo Photography, Beige Alert, DieselDemon, Five Furlongs, danicuki, CamEvans, arne h, electricnerve, -Tripp-, bigcityal, Tim Pierce, Vidbynäs Golf Club, Anomalous Productions, Dovecoté Avenue, Shannon Badiee, Modern Event Preparedness, Amydeanne, Arenamontanus, snowpea&bokchoi, H.Adam, Victor Bezrukov, wwootton1, Bulldog Pottery, M.Ryan Photography, thskyt, Muscle Dominator, Pinti 1, crimfants, Maarten_G / GreenPictures.nl, gematrium, Helga Weber, jon_a_ross, stevendepolo, Starar Band, UT Connewitz, brad_holt, Looking Glass, NatalieMaynor, flowerguy, Peter Huys, The Good Reverend Flash, PhoTones_TAKUMA, greyloch, faceleg, odonata98, Blyzz, sgd, Jeffrey Beall, anneh632, Roy Montgomery, Ivan Marianelli, Lel4nd, autumn_bliss, briggz5d, orsorama, zzkt, Chasqui (Luis Tamayo), gruntzooki, Walt Stoneburner, marc falardeau, karlnorling, john antoni, Kris Krug, aussiegall, CarbonNYC, pheαnix - off 6/29 - 7/8, wwward0, Philo Nordlund, myhsu, US Army Africa, mrsdkrebs, bratha, Veronique Debord, susivinh, Wesley Fryer, Rubyran, Cali4beach, plindberg, Flikkesteph, Paul and Jill, Pilot Theatre, JoeInSouthernCA
  • Blog
    • Second Blog
  • Happy Horse
  • Published
    • Free Stories >
      • Some Things Never Change
      • The Real Thing
      • For You, Mother
      • Meat Head the Worst Dog in the World
      • Boys As Nice as John
      • Meat Head
  • About
  • Green Gecko Publishing