Unfortunately, DANA deadlines and civil protection announcements have been on everyone’s lips for several weeks nowand it still looks like it will continue to be that way, at least for a few more days. As we will all remember for a long time, probably for the rest of our lives, today marks two weeks since the fateful DANA, which punished Valencia with a terrible virulence and left behind more than two hundred dead, to which we must add the number of people who are still reported as missing.

Now, starting today, that common phrase that it rains in the wet finds a very concrete and painful application on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In fact, it is already raining and the forecast for the next few days, especially for the southern coast of Castellón, the entire province of Valencia and the northern coast of Alicantethey have concerns. The only positive thing we can say in this case is that the consequence of what happened two weeks ago leads to much more caution on this occasion.

I won’t get into the controversy about the time two weeks ago when a notice was issued on the mobile phones of citizens in the affected areas, although one cannot help but think that If it had been issued in advance, the consequences would have been less dire. And I won’t even go into the topic of disinformation, but in this case because my colleague Juan already did it a few days ago in this opinion piece, about which I can only say that I wouldn’t change a single comma.

12/11 11:42 #AEMET update #FMA in C. Valenciana. Active TODAY and TOMORROW. Orange max level. Image of the warning map in effect at 11:42. CLICK ON THE IMAGE to view the updated board or visit https://t.co/8qVmJoVdek https://t.co/1LVNWfShhz

— AEMET_C. Valencia (@AEMET_CValencia) November 12, 2024

More than a year ago, after the release of one of these civil protection reports, Also as a result of DANA we explained what cell diffusion consists of (the technology used to send it) and we have checked the necessary settings to enable or disable them. My recommendation today remains the one I made a year ago, ALWAYS leave them ON (sorry for the caps, but any emphasis on this point seems too small to me). And I think it’s the perfect time to remind you again how this adjustment is done:

• Android: Open the settings and look for the section dedicated to wireless alerts, broadcasting settings, mobile broadcasting or similar in the settings. When you access it, you will see the types of notifications you can enable and disable. Edit them as you like.

• iOS: on the Apple system, you will need to go to Settings, then Notifications, and in this section, scroll to the end (you will have to go through all the applications that you have installed) until you find the ES-ALERT section, in which you will see the item “Civil Protection Advance Alerts” , which you can activate and deactivate according to your preferences.

These types of messages, I repeat, are completely anonymous, they are sent indiscriminately to all terminals connected to the antennas of the areas in which the alarm is to be broadcast, and the sender has no record of their reception by them. the same ones. So now it’s DANA’s credit, just like it was two weeks ago, but there are many reasons why an announcement of this type can be issued. Notifications that, remember, can save lives.