Panama alliance to counter fake news

FALSE alarms cost the  Panama Fire Department (CBP), about $ 600,000a year said   Fire chief Jaime Villar during a conference of security groups called to fight fake news.

To calculate the figure, Villar took as a reference the use of the vehicle with its five occupants, but he said that the most serious consequence is that it stops attending to a genuine emergency.

He added that 300 false alarm calls are received daily on a national level; that is, more of 100,00 d a year.

The false calls, r, are not the only inconvenience suffered by security bodies in recent years. Now, they also have to deal daily with fake news  on social networks,

To combat both problems, the Ministry of Government, the CBP, the National System of Civil Protection (Sinaproc) and the private sector, yesterday formed a National Alliance for Humanitarian Assistance

The alliance seeks, on the one hand, to eliminate the setbacks that the fake news provoke security sectors and, on the other, provide the population with reliable information about natural events that are happening or are going to happen.

Sinaproc Director José Donderis said that in order to help the population get access to accurate information will have a human team that will review and validate audios, images and written information that on social networks.so that  nationals and foreigners in the country can  identify when they are facing false  reports;

“The security and rescue units work 24 hours a day, so they are the ones that know first hand what is happening in the country. In addition, we have the ability to issue early warnings about natural events, “said  Donderis

Minister of Government, Carlos Rubio, reiterated that the alliance will fight fake news with true information and prevention messages that help save lives