Mobile phone users across the country received test messages titled “extremely severe alert” on Saturday as the Union government rolled out a mass broadcast system aimed at alerting people in disaster situations.

The message, which flashed on mobile phones with sharp beeping sounds, read: “India launches Cell Broadcast using indigenous technology, for instant disaster alerting service for its citizens. Alert citizens, safe nation. No action is required by the public upon receipt of this message. This is a test message.”

Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia said that those who received such a message need not panic. He said that the new Disaster Communication System, developed by the Department of Telecommunications along with the National Disaster Management Authority, will now be used “to send near real-time, geo-targeted alerts in multiple languages”.

The messages were sent using cell broadcast technology, which is a method sending short messages to several mobile phones in a specific geographic area. The technology is designed to override network congestion, as well as user-defined silent or do-not-disturb settings, so that critical alerts are heard during emergencies.

The Ministry of Communications had said in a press release on April 29 that pan-India testing of the cell broadcasting system was being carried out, and that mobile phone users could receive test messages.

It had said that the National Disaster Management Authority has successfully operationalised an integrated alert system named SACHET, which has been developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics under the Department of Telecommunications.

Several social media users on Saturday said they were taken aback by the messages, but added that they were aimed at testing emergency warning mechanisms.

Some social media users also questioned whether sending such mass alerts was the appropriate way to test the system, and remarked that it could cause unwarranted alarm.