Did your phone beep loudly with an emergency alert today? Here’s why the government sent it

Mobile phones across India beeped simultaneously on Saturday afternoon, sending citizens into a panic. However, it was a trial of the government's disaster alert system. An emergency alert text was sent to Indian citizens with a message stating that it was a test message and no action was required from the public. The Department of Telecommunications, in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority and Ministry of Home Affairs, is coordinating on this system. Citizens were urged not to panic and to ignore the repeated messages during testing.