Mauritius modernizes alerts with the Common Alerting Protocol
This case study belongs to a compendium of good practices and success stories in disaster risk reduction shared during the 2025 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2025). These stories reflect the real-world progress being made by governments, communities, and organizations around the world to reduce risk and build resilience.
Mauritius has overhauled its early warning system with the launch of the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) in 2023—an internationally recognized framework that enables different agencies to share and disseminate hazard alerts in a consistent, machine-readable format.
What makes CAP innovative is its multi-channel, “create once, share everywhere” approach. When an alert is issued—whether for a cyclone, flood, or other hazard—the same standardized message is instantly broadcast across television, radio, SMS, mobile applications, sirens, digital billboards, and even social media. This eliminates delays caused by re-formatting information for each platform, ensuring that warnings reach people quickly and in the same, clear language no matter where they are or how they access information.
How Mauritius is saving lives with faster disaster warnings
CAP also strengthens inter-agency coordination. By using a common digital format, agencies such as the Mauritius Meteorological Services, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Centre, and the ICT Authority can integrate their systems so that alerts are automatically pushed to multiple channels. During Cyclone Chido in December 2024, the CAP system proved its worth—communities in remote and coastal areas received synchronized alerts quite early compared to previous instances.
The system is central to the Mauritius 2024–2027 National Action Plan, which prioritizes faster warnings, stronger risk communication, and tighter coordination between national and local actors.
Source: As shared by Prithiviraj Booneady at the GP2025 Media Hub interview How Mauritius is saving lives with faster disaster warnings | UNDRR