Governments and public organizations use SMS alerts to notify people of emergencies. When an emergency happens, the government needs to approach many people as soon as possible. With the advancement of bulk SMS, SMS has become the first helper of the government.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had spread in the world, which caused serious public crises to governments around the world. During the pandemic, people were forced not to go out. Under this circumstance, SMS messages had become an essential communicating tool. People started to text each other frequently during the COVID-19.
To the government, sending bulk SMS to alert people of possible dangers or matters that need attention is a convenient method. Social apps are too personal, whereas everyone can receive SMS messages by default. It is how government alerts the citizens during the pandemic.
Here is an SMS alert by the UK government:
The Bangladesh government sends bulk SMS alerts about different topics. For instance, healthcare, natural disasters, tax services, education information, and can also participate in voting, auctions, and many other activities. It is a cheaper way and can reach millions very quickly.
Health organizations send bulk SMS to their members about health and hygiene issues during the pandemic. Bulk SMS is a good tool for public organizations to communicate with people in emergent times.
In other cases, the government uses SMS messages for crisis management. When someone has closely contacted people with COVID-19, the government can send an SMS alert to that person, asking for self-isolation. An example is like this:
Government can also inform people of new pandemic prevention policy through SMS. In the UK, the citizens will receive SMS messages from the government of the latest prevention policy and a link to look through.
If the government organizes a vaccine injecting, it can inform people through bulk SMS messages.
When some people want to charge people for taking the vaccine while it is free, the UK government will send an SMS alert to people going to take the vaccine about the fraud.
If people have booked a vaccine injection appointment, the government will send an SMS message to confirm the appointment. If the appointment is not confirmed, there will be no confirming message, and people will have to book again.
These SMS messages from the government usually have the same name, so people will know who sends them.
