Brazil's Civil Defense alerts on your phone

Every year, thousands of families in Brazil have to leave home, for a while or for good, because of urban flooding, river floods, flash floods and landslides, Brazil's Ministry of Health points out. A Civil Defense warning only protects people who can receive it and know what to do with it. That is why getting Brazil emergency alerts on your phone is the first step in any family's plan, and the second is keeping an emergency kit at home, ready to grab on the way out.

This guide covers Brazil's official channels, what to do in the first few minutes and how to put together a family plan and an emergency go bag, a topic for each Pathfinder to work through with their parents and for the Counselor to bring to the Unit.

📲How do you get Brazil emergency alerts from the Civil Defense on your phone?

When there is a risk of flooding, landslides or windstorms, Brazil's Civil Defense issues warnings to the public. On a phone, they arrive by three main routes: SMS 40199, WhatsApp and, in the most serious situations, cell broadcast technology, which in Brazil is called Defesa Civil Alerta. The federal gov.br portal also lists Telegram and pay TV.

The first two require signing up. The third needs no registration and reaches every compatible phone in the risk area, including the phones of people who are only passing through town. Brazil's National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) recommends using more than one channel, because each one complements the others.

Sources: Brazil's Ministry of Integration and Regional Development (MIDR), the gov.br portal and Anatel's Defesa Civil Alerta guide (all in Portuguese).

✉️How do you sign up for Civil Defense alerts by SMS 40199 and WhatsApp?

For 40199, type only the CEP, the Brazilian postal code, in the body of a text message and send it to 40199. The service is free and accepts more than one CEP per phone: to follow another place, send a new text with the other CEP. It makes sense to register your home, your school, the church where the Club meets, your grandparents' house and, before a campout, the CEP of the campsite. To see your list, send CONSULTAR (check); to cancel, send SAIR (exit) followed by the CEP.

On WhatsApp, sign-up is through (61) 2034-4611: send "Oi" (Portuguese for hi) to the chatbot and share your current location or pick another one. According to Brazil's Ministry of Integration and Regional Development (MIDR), you can register several locations, such as the places your family often goes or the destination of a trip. On any channel, the Pathfinder signs up together with a parent or guardian, on whichever phone the family agrees on.

🚨What does an extreme alert from Brazil's Civil Defense mean?

Defesa Civil Alerta uses cell broadcast, known in other countries as wireless emergency alerts. The message goes out from the cell towers covering the risk area and, when it arrives, it appears on top of anything on the screen, even during a call, and stays there until the person closes it. The text describes the danger and explains how to stay safe.

According to Anatel's guide, there are two levels. An extreme alert signals immediate urgency: people need to protect themselves right then, and the phone sounds a siren even in silent mode. A severe alert gives a little more time to get ready; the phone gives a beep that does not sound in silent mode, but the message still appears on the screen. The Civil Defense decides the content and timing of each alert.

⚙️How do you turn on emergency alerts on Android and iPhone?

The alert comes switched on by default, but it pays to check. As an example, Anatel's guide gives the path Settings, Safety and emergency, Wireless emergency alerts on Android, and Settings, Notifications, Government Alerts on iPhone. Most smartphones released since 2020 are compatible, as long as they have 4G or 5G and Android 11 or later (Android 13 or later for the Go edition) or iOS 17 or later.

The alert does not reach phones in airplane mode, with no signal or connected only to 2G, 3G or Wi-Fi, and severe alerts are left out for anyone who has turned off emergency alerts. The service is free: Anatel warns that any request for payment or a fee to receive alerts may be a scam, and it answers questions at 1331.

Be wary of strange messages. Between the night of June 19 and the early hours of June 20, 2026, a hack of the national system sent fake alerts, with terms such as "misantropia" (Portuguese for misanthropy), to phones in at least seven states and the Federal District of Brazil, according to Agência Brasil, and the Federal Police opened an investigation. If in doubt, check the official Civil Defense channels before forwarding anything.

🏃The Civil Defense alert went off: what should you do in the first minutes?

Read the whole message calmly and follow its instructions. Tell everyone at home and make sure grandparents and neighbors who live alone have heard. The booklet from Brazil's Ministry of Health adds: unplug electronic devices, shut off the gas and water valves and bring the animals in.

If you need to leave, the family goes to the places named by the Civil Defense or to the home of a relative or friend, as agreed in the plan, taking the kit and the animals, with appliances switched off and the house well locked. On the way, do not take shelter under trees and stay away from utility poles, because of the risk of electric shock; in a thunderstorm with lightning, follow the lightning safety protocol. Avoid floodwater and mud, which may be contaminated, and do not let children play in them.

If you notice the start of a landslide, warn the Civil Defense, the Fire Department and as many residents of the area as possible right away. The Brazilian numbers listed in the booklet are Civil Defense 199, Fire Department (Corpo de Bombeiros) 193, SAMU ambulance service 192, Military Police 190 and the Disque-Saúde health line 136; the guide on when to call SAMU 192 shows what to say on the call.

🗺️How do you make a family emergency plan?

The plan starts before the rain, by asking your city's Civil Defense about the risks to your neighborhood, street and house and, if your home is in a risk area, about the places that will serve as shelters. That is what the Ministry of Health booklet asks for. Ask about the Municipal Contingency Plan too: according to the MIDR, it links each alert level to actions such as opening support points, shelters and escape routes.

With those answers, sit down with your family in front of a map of the neighborhood, mark the way out and agree on a meeting point in case you have to leave home. Write useful phone numbers and relatives' contacts on a sheet of paper, which does not need a battery. The booklet asks for extra care with people with disabilities, children, teenagers and older adults; people over 60, though, are a big help in preparing when they know the history of disasters in the area.

When there is a heavy rain alert, the booklet suggests leaving documents (originals or copies), computer files and photos with trusted relatives or friends who live outside risk areas. At meetings and campouts, the Club's leadership is responsible, using the club emergency plan.

🎒Emergency go bag: what should you put in it, according to Brazil's Ministry of Health?

The official booklet calls it a kit, though many people search for it as an emergency go bag: basic personal items and papers the family cannot lose, kept together in a box that is easy to carry when you have to leave in a hurry. A backpack does the same job and leaves your hands free. Anyone who takes ongoing medication, such as insulin, should keep it somewhere easy to reach, together with the prescription, and vaccination cards go with the family if you need to go to a shelter.

Online you will find 72-hour kit lists with exact liters of water per person. The booklet does not set that number: it asks, if possible, for bottled drinking water at home for a few days. A flashlight, batteries and a first aid kit can be added as extras your household chooses, outside the official list. If the family goes to a shelter, pets are not left alone at home; if the shelter does not accept them, hand the animal and its kit to a friend or relative.

Items from the Cartilha de Orientação à População no Período de Alerta de Chuvas Intensas (public guidance booklet for heavy rain alerts), Brazil's Ministry of Health, 2017.

🧭How can the Unit turn this into a challenge?

Over two weeks, each member completes three tasks at home with a parent or guardian: register the CEP with 40199, check that emergency alerts are on in the family's phone and make the plan with a meeting point and the kit of documents and medicines.

The fourth task is to help an older neighbor do the same, always with an adult from the family nearby: text the CEP together and write the numbers 199, 193 and 192 on a piece of paper. The Ministry of Health booklet ends by asking for solidarity with neighbors and with the most vulnerable. At the next meeting, the Counselor checks in without collecting anyone's data: each person shares what they did, with no CEP or address written down.

The Bible holds an old example of a family that took a warning seriously. Hebrews 11:7 (NIV) says: "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family". Getting your home ready when an alert comes goes hand in hand with faith. And if disaster reaches your city, the Unit's preparation turns into help for others, as the guide on how Pathfinders help after disasters shows.