TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan will test its disaster warning messaging system on Wednesday afternoon (May 8).

Taiwan's three major telecom companies, Chunghwa, FarEasTone, and Taiwan Mobile, announced that a disaster notification message in Mandarin and English would be sent nationwide at 4 p.m., reported CNA. When users receive the message, their mobile phones will emit a special warning sound and vibrate, and the public is urged not to panic.

The test will be conducted through the "Monthly Test Message" channel and will not affect customer service during the testing period. Telecom operators explained that the "Monthly Test Message" channel is set to “off” by default on most phones to minimize customer inconvenience.

All three companies said they will continue to improve the disaster messaging system by implementing tests in response to government policies.