Estonia's location-based SMS alert system is unique in the world in being able to reach users in three different languages, depending on their preference.
Improvements to the system in the past year or so have made these warnings get delivered to phones quicker, and usually in the recipient's language of choice – out of three options.
Previously, emergency alerts in Estonia were sent as a single SMS message, usually in three languages: Estonian, Russian and English.
While this trilingual message helped reach different language groups, it also created issues which could be serious in a real emergency, according to a new study by Stella Polikarpus, a population protection researcher at the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences (Sisekaitseakadeemia).
The messages were found by many to be too long, hard to read, and their length meant they also took a longer time to deliver. Also, the alerts were often split across several SMS segments, increasing the load on mobile networks and further delaying the delivery of warnings, and making them more complex for end users to digest.
Kadi Luht-Kallas, project manager for the EE-ALARM language preference project, noted: "Testing and research on emergency alert language preferences carried out in 2022 and 2023 showed that trilingual SMS alerts were too long and difficult to grasp in emergency situations, reducing their effectiveness. We needed a solution that takes people's language preferences into account."
Language plays an vital role in emergencies. If the public do not understand the content of a warning, it naturally can reduce their ability to respond in time. It is also vital the language in question is accurate. According to Luht-Kallas, automatic translation can also convey the content of an emergency alert incorrectly.
The language of emergency alerts is particularly important in Estonia given the multilingual nature of the populace, both citizens and residents. In addition to Estonian, Russian and English are widely spoken. Receiving a warning in a single language helps reduce confusion and speeds up understanding of the information.
The new solution takes language preferences into account.
Polikarpus' study, published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, is based data from the nationwide emergency alert test conducted on May 14, 2025. During the exercise, SMS alerts were sent twice, to nearly 1.5 million SIM cards. This was also the first nationwide emergency alert test to include sirens.
A total of 24,787 people responded to a feedback questionnaire published on the website kriis.ee.
Since 2023, Estonia has been developing the EE-ALARM emergency alert system, which allows warnings to be sent in a person's preferred language. Language preference is first and foremost determined using mobile operator data. If the operator has no information on the user's language of choice, the user will receive a dual-language message in Estonian and English. Such cases accounted for 14 percent of the 2025 test, though this proportion has fallen this year.
"The share of people whose language preference is unknown has been falling over time. For example, in the 2026 test they accounted for only about 7-8 percent of SMS recipients," Luht-Kallas noted.
This solution significantly reduces message length and consequently the number of SMS segments, improving readability and speed. The trials conducted in May last year showed that the alerts were delivered successfully. Almost everyone, at 97.8 percent of respondents, said they had received the text message.
While sirens and mobile apps also attracted people's attention, 68.3 percent of respondents said they noticed the SMS before these.
The technology also overcame language barriers effectively, with 95.6 percent of respondents saying they were able to read the key information immediately in their preferred language. The speed of alert delivery also improved significantly. Under the previous trilingual system, sending the same number of messages would have taken several hours and required nearly 12 million SMS segments. With the new system, the alerts reached people in about 40 minutes, using 2.4 million SMS segments.
A comparison with other emergency alert channels, including mobile apps, television and sirens, showed that SMS remained the channel most frequently spotted first by respondents. Also, according to the authors of the study, a location-based SMS alert system that takes language preferences into account is unique in the world.
At the same time, the study also highlighted areas for further development. The accuracy of the system depends on how up to date users' language preference data are. The biggest problems were seen when sending SMS messages to phones using foreign SIM cards, as the system often could not confirm whether roaming users had received the messages.
The study also examined cell broadcast tech, which would enable emergency alerts to be delivered more quickly and allow danger areas to be defined more precisely. According to the authors, however, the solution still requires further development, and even with the introduction of the new technology, it must be ensured that alerts continue to reach people in their preferred language.
The researchers have concluded that EE-ALARM should continue to be developed, including by expanding the range of emergency alert channels and improving the quality of language preference data. This would ensure that warnings reach residents quickly, and in a language they understand.
The original study by Stella Polikarpus is here.
The May 14, 2025 test was the first of its kind in Estonia, and further similar tests have been carried out, with issues arising being addressed. The most recent of these tests came in June. Incidents involving stray drones during Ukraine's strikes on Russian infrastructure in the spring also brought real-time opportunities to test the system. The alert system can cover all types of emergencies including, for instance, natural disasters.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Andres Reimann