‘I almost sh*t my pants’: S’pore residents startled by SCDF ‘Important Message’ alarm
Some members of the public were caught by surprise when the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) sounded the “Important Message” signal at about 6.20pm on Sept 15, with several taking to social media to share their reactions.
The alert, which is sounded twice a year on Sept 15 and Feb 15, is meant to warn of attacks from the air, land, or sea, as well as natural and man-made disasters through the island-wide network of Public Warning System sirens. The exercise has been conducted for over three decades, with testing of the sirens beginning in the early 1990s.
Information about the exercise was shared in a Sept 3 report by The Straits Times. On Sept 10, SCDF also shared in a Facebook post that members of the public can tune in to local radio stations for a Total Defence message when they hear the alarm.
In May, a new national alert warning system, SG Alert, was rolled out for residents whose mobile providers use the Singtel network. This system uses cell broadcast technology to deliver alerts without needing mobile data.
Those on StarHub’s network will receive the alerts by end-2026, while other telco subscribers will be added by mid-2027.
Members of the public surprised by alert
However, not all members of the public were aware of the Sept 15 exercise. Many subsequently took to social media to share their shocked reactions, with one Reddit thread garnering over 2,500 upvotes.
The post, which was titled “I almost sh*t my pants when my phone started ringing”, was shared by user @sw98bn on the Singapore subreddit.
Several netizens described hearing the alarm as “surreal” and apocalyptic, while others said seeing everyone look down at their phones at the same time was a “weirdly bonding moment”.
On TikTok, content creator @aliciatadah shared her thoughts in a post on Sept 15, asking what civilians were supposed to do during an emergency. The post garnered over 136,000 views.
“Call me a clueless Singaporean that is spoilt by her country’s perpetual safety... but sincerely, what is the SOP ah,” she wrote in the caption.
Screenshots of the alert were also shared by TikTok user @cakesaauce, who said their “headphones were plugged in” when the alarm sounded.
However, some netizens felt it was a necessary exercise.
“Loved that there was a loud noisy alarm. If there’s really an emergency, at least everyone knows. Especially since not all might have heard or know what the siren is for,” one Redditor said.
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