A red flag works as a warning.
The term alert refers to a situation of surveillance or attention . A state or alert signal is a warning to take extreme precautions or increase vigilance.
Likewise, someone who is alert is a person who is attentive to certain issues. For example: “You have to be alert to the players who attack your sector, since they can hurt us,” “Juan must be alert and not be distracted to prevent thieves from entering the property.”
In that same sense, it is used to talk about an animal that is prepared to hunt another, lying in wait for its prey in order to catch it at the right moment. On the other hand, it can also refer to the animal that feels that another is chasing or stalking it, it puts itself on alert to be able to escape as quickly as it can as soon as it has a clear notion of the danger.
Alert as a warning of a possible disaster
Alert, from the Italian all»erta , can also be the period leading up to a predicted disaster . In the event of an imminent attack or an upcoming weather phenomenon, authorities have the possibility of establishing different driving states so that people act accordingly. There is a state of pre-alert, alert and alarm , which is decreed when the disaster is already occurring.
In this sense, an alert is issued to warn the population that a danger is approaching , so that they can take shelter or go to fulfill their obligations in case of emergency .
An alert can be a warning or a notification.
The concept in meteorology
A weather alert is one that indicates that a potentially dangerous weather phenomenon is approaching (a strong storm, a hurricane , etc.). Typically, these alerts ask people not to leave their homes and to take shelter.
As determined by the European climatology criteria, the way in which the degrees of severity of each meteorological situation can be distinguished are green, yellow, orange and red.
These colors would warn the population about possible rain, snow , winds or high temperatures and would allow the dramatic consequences of these situations to be prevented .
Green color: indicates that there is no risk , so citizens can rest assured, without fearing that anything will happen.
Yellow : This color indicates that there is a danger or threat in a specific place.
Orange color : it occurs very few times during the year and warns of significant damage that may affect a group of the population; In general, these damages are irreversible, but in some cases there are possible solutions, although after a large investment of money, time and work.
Red color : indicates that there is a catastrophic danger that will affect a large part of the population and will have important consequences on its life and infrastructure. It occurs once every many years and it is important to be extremely vigilant to prevent its consequences.
Weather alert type
Depending on the type of alert issued by the meteorological system of the place, the public will be able to know what type of weather awaits them: if there will be rain, snowfall, winds, cyclones, tsunamis or the temperature will rise sharply and will therefore be able to take a decision about your own activities to prevent climate change from affecting your health.
To issue a meteorological alert, the meteorological service receives a series of signals through different tools arranged in the environment to emit them, and can alert the population to protect themselves from a certain catastrophe caused by a sudden climate change.
Other uses of the term
Finally, it should be noted that Alerta is a Peruvian town in the province of Purús ( Ucayali Region ).
The term also gives name to a Spanish newspaper founded in 1937 and to a Venezuelan television program dedicated to journalistic investigation.