NL-Alert test sets phones buzzing at noon on Monday

The public emergency notification system in the Netherlands, NL-ALert, was triggered at noon on Monday for its semi-annual national test. Many in the country should have received a test message on their mobile device or seen the messages on video screens in some public settings.

The NL-Alert system is tested twice a year, at noon on the first Monday in June and December.

Mobile phone users who did not receive the message can troubleshoot the issue using a government guide about configuring phones and other devices to accept NL-Alert notifications. “NL-Alert can also be seen on a growing number of digital advertising displays and digital departure signs at train, bus, tram, and metro stops,” the government said in a previous statement.

Phones which were properly set up to receive NL-Alert messages but were either in flight mode or connected to a foreign cellular tower might not broadcast the message or could display it later than planned.