Everyone can check on their phone to see what time the emergency message actually arrived after 11:00. We also conducted a quick poll on the Crisis Research Center’s Facebook page, asking people when the message reached different regions of Estonia. The initial results are quite startling – one of our own researchers received the message in Tallinn only at 11:27, a citizen in Tartu at 11:35, in Kohtla-Järve at 11:32, and a resident of Haabersti only at 11:42. The latter noted in the comments – if this had been a real threat, the consequences could have been very serious.

There have been recurring problems with the EE-ALARM system during crises. Messages were delayed during the chain accident on the Tallinn ring road and also during the fire at the Suur-Sõjamäe waste station. Now the same issue has arisen during an exercise. This raises a critical question – if we cannot deliver emergency messages within a reasonable time during a drill in a small country – for example, within 15 minutes (which is already far from ideal), how can we expect it to work in a real crisis? Something is seriously wrong when we boast about our trilingual message delivery, yet the message itself arrives far too late.

The EE-ALARM system is currently essentially useless – it does not serve its intended purpose.

We’ve also received feedback that people did not receive alerts via the Ole valmis! (“Be Ready!”) app, even though it was supposed to work. And yet, there are functional solutions available, such as those offered by our good allies, the Ukrainians – for instance, a government app that actually works. But we didn’t adopt the Ukrainian solution – it wasn’t a fit for us. Perhaps we would already have a working system – a “pocket siren” – if we had moved forward with it?

Just imagine – if from the start we had focused on one solution that actually works in Ukraine and simply developed that. Instead, we are juggling multiple systems for emergency alerts, some of which have repeatedly failed. We should to think how much money has been spent on the EE-ALARM system – or on sending delayed messages in three languages – which ultimately do not fulfill their purpose.

If we want to continue with an alert system, something needs to change drastically. People are worried – and justifiably so – if messages arrive this late, what will happen in a real crisis?

× The question from the Crisis Research Centre has been published as a news story on May 14 in Estonian and May 15 in Russian on the Delfi portal.

Photo: delayed warning messages on May 14 (Kriisiuuringute Keskus, 2025).