The Government have announced that the UK-wide testing of their Emergency Alerts service will take place at 3pm on Sunday 23rd April.
Following successful pilots in East Suffolk and Reading, the test of the new Emergency Alerts system will see people receive a message on the home screen of their mobile phone, along with a sound and vibration for up to ten seconds.
How to avoid the alert
Those wishing to avoid being informed of an Emergency Alert can turn off ‘Extreme Alerts’ and ‘Severe Alerts’ at the bottom of the Notifications section of their phone settings.
This information will be relevant for those in abusive relationships with a hidden second phone.
No action needed
For the test, the public does not need to take any action – the sound and vibration will stop automatically after ten seconds.
All people need to do is swipe away the message or click ‘OK’ on their phone’s home screen – just like for a ‘low battery’ warning or notification – and continue to use their phone as normal.
Used successfully elsewhere
Emergency Alerts have already been used successfully in a number of other countries, including the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Japan, where it has been widely credited with saving lives, for example, during severe weather events.
In the UK, alerts could be used to tell residents of villages being encroached by wildfires, or of severe flooding.
Limited clashing with football or marathon
The Government has worked together with the emergency services and partners, including the Football Association and London Marathon, to make sure the national test has minimum impact on major events taking place on the day.
Transform UK’s warning and informing capability
Emergency Alerts will transform the UK’s warning and informing capability; by working with mobile broadcasting technology it will provide a means to get urgent messages quickly to nearly 90 percent of mobile phones in a defined area when there is a risk to life, and provide clear instructions about how best to respond.
Test required
Best practice of Emergency Alerts in other countries have shown that they work more effectively in a real emergency if people have previously received a test, so they know what an alert looks and sounds like.
The system will be used very rarely – only being sent where there is an immediate risk to people’s lives – so people may not receive an alert for months or years.
You can find out further information on Emergency Alerts, including what they look and sound like at gov.uk/alerts
Image: Charles Deluvio under CC BY 2.0
