What happens on Thursday on Tenerife?
The Centro Coordinador de Emergencias y Seguridad (CECOES) 112 will send three warning messages to mobile phones on 22 October 2026 between 9:00 and 14:00. According to El Día, no individual time has been set for each transmission.
The first message is aimed at the whole island of Tenerife. It simulates the change to volcanic warning level Orange under the Canary Islands PEVOLCA emergency plan. The message means neither an eruption nor an evacuation or confinement order.
The second message concerns the municipalities of Guía de Isora and Santiago del Teide. It simulates a precautionary evacuation solely of the hamlets of Chirche and Aripe. The third message announces the end of the exercise.
Which areas can receive the message?
Because of mobile network coverage, the first message can also reach certain areas of Gran Canaria, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. The same applies to inter-island shipping routes, as El Día reports.
The second message can be received outside the target zone in parts of Adeje, Los Silos, Buenavista del Norte and El Tanque. Reception is also possible on other islands and sea routes.
Anyone who receives a message outside the target zone is not affected by the measures described. The authorities advise reading the full content and checking which places it refers to.
What do holidaymakers and residents need to do?
Compatible, switched-on mobile phones in the affected mobile network area will emit a loud signal tone, vibrate and display a message with the word "PRUEBA". The message must be read and confirmed with "Aceptar"; it then disappears.
No reply is required, and because of the test nobody should call the 112 emergency number. Anyone who is driving when the alert arrives should first stop in a safe place and only then read the screen.
For residents, foreign residents and tourists, the test involves no fees, applications, deadlines, closures or price changes.
What technology is needed to receive the alert?
No app or registration is required to receive the alert.
A switched-off phone or a device in flight mode will not receive the message. Anyone who enters the affected mobile network area during the time window may still receive the message.
112 Canarias offers instructions on its website for checking the configuration depending on the device. The official information does not state an individual guarantee of reception for every device or network operator.
Why is this test taking place?
The test is part of the volcanic protection simulation scenario VOLCANEX Tenerife 2026, organised by the Cabildo de Tenerife in the municipality of Guía de Isora. It is intended to familiarise the public with the ES-Alert warning system.
ES-Alert belongs to the Red de Alerta Nacional and makes it possible to send warnings directly to mobile phones in an affected area. In the Canary Islands, operational transmission is carried out by the Dirección General de Emergencias via CECOES 112.
The legal framework is Ley 17/2015, de 9 de julio, del Sistema Nacional de Protección Civil. Volcanic risk planning is carried out through PEVOLCA, whose traffic light system communicates the activity level.
What is still open?
The official information does not state an individual guarantee of reception for every device or network operator. What matters is a compatible, updated phone, activated warnings and mobile network reception.
The date mentioned here of 22 October 2026 between 9:00 and 14:00 comes from the El Día report of 19 October 2026.
The next announced event is the three-part test on 22 October 2026. No further dates for follow-up exercises were mentioned in the available sources.