UK Emergency Alert Tests

[Scotrail314209]

Loud emergency alerts to be issued to mobile phones today

It is part of a government test

www.nottinghampost.com

Mobile phone owners across the UK may be sent emergency alerts on Tuesday, June 22, as part of a government test.

Android phones on certain networks may begin making loud siren noises between 1 and 2 pm alongside a message explaining it is an alert test.


When the officials alert service goes live it will be used to warn people about dangerous incidents including terrorism-related emergencies and flooding, North Wales Live reports.

The Government website says people "can opt out of some emergency alerts, but not the most important ones".

A second emergency alert test will be conducted on Tuesday June 29, but only for people living in Reading and Berkshire.

Regarding today's UK-wide alert test, the Gov.uk website says: "Some mobile phone networks in the UK are testing emergency alerts between 1pm and 2pm.


"If you have an Android device, there’s a small chance you may get a test alert. Your device may make a loud siren-like sound.

"The alert will say: 'This is a mobile network operator test of the Emergency Alerts service. You do not need to take any action. To find out more, search for gov.uk/alerts'."

Has anyone on Android received any of these tests? If so, what was it like?

It has cued some comments on social media of people claiming the government is preparing us for something. Perhaps the government is just adopting a system that has been in use for years and saved lives across the world?

 

[chris_in_salop]

Yes, my Android phone started making a siren noise at 1pm today. It was easy enough to switch off.

But I was targetted for a similar test last week, when I happened to be away from my desk (and the phone in my coat pockets). We're still under-staffed, with few people in the building, so it went on wailing for quite a while.

Put it this way, if it was the 4 minute warning from Fylingdales, I'd have missed it.

 

[AlterEgo]

I was boarding a plane at 1:30pm today and someone's phone went off with a strange siren sound. Perhaps it was one of these!

 

[Domh245]

I didn't get anything on EE. My phone was on silent (and battery saver) though!

 

[PeterC]

Nothing on Three.

 

[matt]

Nothing on Three.

Same for me, nothing

 

[Scotrail314209]

I wonder if it was random phones that got selected. I recall it saying that it was specifically being tested on Android. There is another test coming up on the 29th, but for Reading and Berkshire only.

I'm thankful that it's only tests and not the real thing.

 

[birchesgreen]

The British regime has seen how useful fear is to control the proles and are putting in the infrastructure to keep the populace cowed and fearful.

 

[DarloRich]

The British regime has seen how useful fear is to control the proles and are putting in the infrastructure to keep the populace cowed and fearful.

Good news: your tinfoil hat should keep you safe.

 

[nlogax]

So to the lucky few who received the texts: what airbase have you been told to attend and when is the comet due to strike the planet?

 

[edwin_m]

Good news: your tinfoil hat should keep you safe.

Only if you take it off and wrap your phone in it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jun 2021 ==

So to the lucky few who received the texts: what airbase have you been told to attend and when is the comet due to strike the planet?

If they told us that they'd have to kill us.

 

[davews]

I gather this was only on 4G and 5G phones. 2G and 3G it seems it doesn't work so they didn't get the 'alarm'. As for my old Nokia sit up and beg....

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Mine's a 4G and I got nothing.

Would my having all notifications disabled ( it's in "do not disturb" mode ) because of the sheer volume I'd get otherwise mean this wouldn't get through, or should it over-ride that?

 

[ainsworth74]

It has cued some comments on social media of people claiming the government is preparing us for something. Perhaps the government is just adopting a system that has been in use for years and saved lives across the world?

The British regime has seen how useful fear is to control the proles and are putting in the infrastructure to keep the populace cowed and fearful.

Nah they've done things like this from time to time before. I had a text message back in maybe 2010/11ish which boiled down to being a test of an emergency alert system. I feel like I may have had another a few years later as well. Didn't get this one!

It seems sensible to me for the government to have some method of alerting the population to impending disaster. We've not really had one since we decommissioned the siren based system at the end of the Cold War (apart from a few edge uses like flood alarms in the Calder Valley, escaped psychopaths from Broadmoor or at a chemical works). Which has always marked the UK out as something of an outlier really as many countries have national alert systems of one sort or another. Using mobile phones seems a sensible method as any to me. I'd be far more likely to hear my phone going off at 1am than a siren when I'm asleep and there's a double-glazed window and some miles between me and it!

 

[Scotrail314209]

Nah they've done things like this from time to time before. I had a text message back in maybe 2010/11ish which boiled down to being a test of an emergency alert system. I feel like I may have had another a few years later as well. Didn't get this one!

It seems sensible to me for the government to have some method of alerting the population to impending disaster. We've not really had one since we decommissioned the siren based system at the end of the Cold War (apart from a few edge uses like flood alarms in the Calder Valley, escaped psychopaths from Broadmoor or at a chemical works). Which has always marked the UK out as something of an outlier really as many countries have national alert systems of one sort or another. Using mobile phones seems a sensible method as any to me. I'd be far more likely to hear my phone going off at 1am than a siren when I'm asleep and there's a double-glazed window and some miles between me and it!

Exactly.

Some other comments saying that we can just watch the news for stuff like this, most people will see if something goes onto their phone instantly.

There is a factory near me which tests its sirens once a month, think it manufactures explosives and includes gas.

Quite an eerie sound to hear.

I do hope there isn't a situation where we have to hear the real thing.

 

[Mojo]

The government website has instructions on how to switch these off but I don’t have the applicable setting on my phone that it tells me to operate.

As an aside I hope they aren’t abused like they are in America; they seem to use them for everything over there, even heavy rain, and it’s really quite annoying.

 

[Scotrail314209]

The government website has instructions on how to switch these off but I don’t have the applicable setting on my phone that it tells me to operate.

As an aside I hope they aren’t abused like they are in America; they seem to use them for everything over there, even heavy rain, and it’s really quite annoying.

I recall two major incidents that I heard of over there:

1. Somebody was able to hack into the system in several states and send out a message that the zombie apocalypse was happening.

2. The system in Hawaii malfunctioned and told everyone that they were about to be blown up by a missile.

With systems like these, it's inevitable that there might be a degree of misuse.

 

[route101]

Exactly.

Some other comments saying that we can just watch the news for stuff like this, most people will see if something goes onto their phone instantly.

There is a factory near me which tests its sirens once a month, think it manufactures explosives and includes gas.

Quite an eerie sound to hear.

I do hope there isn't a situation where we have to hear the real thing.

Was somewhere abroad in Eastern Europe and they tested the flood warning sirens.

I never got the siren on my phone. My phone is always on silent. Would it make a noise even if your phone was on silent?

 

[Scotrail314209]

Was somewhere abroad in Eastern Europe and they tested the flood warning sirens.

I never got the siren on my phone. My phone is always on silent. Would it make a noise even if your phone was on silent?

I'm assuming it should come up with the notification and make a sound even if the phone is on silent.

 

[Mojo]

I'm assuming it should come up with the notification and make a sound even if the phone is on silent.

It isn’t clear from searching online. Some websites say that it will always come up, some people say it will never come up and some people say it comes up if the phone is on ‘do not disturb’ but not if the phone is on silent.

I’d be pretty furious if it started making a noise when I was asleep or had put my phone on silent for something important.

 

[edwin_m]

It isn’t clear from searching online. Some websites say that it will always come up, some people say it will never come up and some people say it comes up if the phone is on ‘do not disturb’ but not if the phone is on silent.

I’d be pretty furious if it started making a noise when I was asleep or had put my phone on silent for something important.

Depends on what it's alerting of and where? I'd be quite willing to be interrupted in a meeting by news of an active shooter 100 metres away*, but not for a warning of thunderstorms a hundred miles away.

*Though not if I was hiding behind a filing cabinet hoping said shooter wouldn't know I was there.

 

[Mojo]

Depends on what it's alerting of and where? I'd be quite willing to be interrupted in a meeting by news of an active shooter 100 metres away, but not for a warning of thunderstorms a hundred miles away.

I don’t think they are ever that reactive. And in any case, no I don’t think I would be happy, my phone is on silent or do not disturb because of an important reason, usually because I’m asleep

 

[Scotrail314209]

My opinion is, this is a good system.

However it should only be used if it is a severe event, such as mass rioting, severe thunderstorms etc.

People will get very sick of them and switch them off if it alerts us to every little thing that happens.

I wonder why they haven't tried on IOS yet..

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Depends on what it's alerting of and where? I'd be quite willing to be interrupted in a meeting by news of an active shooter 100 metres away*, but not for a warning of thunderstorms a hundred miles away.

*Though not if I was hiding behind a filing cabinet hoping said shooter wouldn't know I was there.

If there was an active shooter 100 metres away, I suspect the loud bangs might give you a clue anyway long before an alert got issued.

Plus... if you were hiding behind the filing cabinet and then the Government alert went out and your phone started sounding like a Carter siren... that would sort of give your location away to the gunman wouldn't it?!

 

[Bald Rick]

severe thunderstorms

Severe thunderstorms? Hardly a severe event.

 

[edwin_m]

If there was an active shooter 100 metres away, I suspect the loud bangs might give you a clue anyway long before an alert got issued.

Plus... if you were hiding behind the filing cabinet and then the Government alert went out and your phone started sounding like a Carter siren... that would sort of give your location away to the gunman wouldn't it?!

Exactly my reason to be wary of this idea. I seem to recall we got some active shooter awareness guidance circulated at work soon after some atrocity or other, which included putting your phone on silent when you went to hide behind something.

 

[mikeg]

Didn't get anything on my phone. But then it was switched off in my locker, but got nothing when it was switched on unless it has to be online at the time? In which case it's a bad design plenty of people may not have a signal at the exact moment or their mobiles may be off.

 

[Domh245]

The official government page has this to say on the matter:

When the service is live​

You may get alerts about:

• severe flooding
• fires
• explosions
• terrorist incidents
• public health emergencies

Emergency alerts will only be sent by:

• the emergency services
• government departments, agencies and public bodies that deal with emergencies

Which seems like a reasonable list. I think the key is where there is a genuine threat to life and where an alert will be useful - I'd personally only keep the first three, and whilst I can see the idea behind #4, I don't know how useful it would be, especially if it might lead to stampedes or being 'betrayed' by the alarm tone! I suppose that in some areas there may be merit in "extreme weather" and/or "landslides" as a reason to send an alert

 

[Baxenden Bank]

If there was an active shooter 100 metres away, I suspect the loud bangs might give you a clue anyway long before an alert got issued.

Plus... if you were hiding behind the filing cabinet and then the Government alert went out and your phone started sounding like a Carter siren... that would sort of give your location away to the gunman wouldn't it?!

Indeed, the advice for terrorist attacks in, for example hotels, is to find somewhere to hide and keep very quiet, so any terrorists prowling the corridors will not find you.

I also do not think that severe weather is an event requiring an alert, at least not one to which you have not actively sought out and consented to. Flood alerts if you live in a flood prone area are fine - if you ask for them. A colleague once signed up for these on his office number (he did not live in a flood zone but it was vaguely connected to his job) and of course the alerts rang after he had gone home and some muggins had to answer the phone thinking it was a customer call.

My local water company sends me alerts about fatbergs blocking the sewers - except it is a general message sent to all customers rather than being a specific local problem. They recently stated that they were to start sending alerts in hot weather - suggesting that you use less water to conserve supplies and reduce pressure on mains / treatment works.

I fear any national system will be similarly mis-used or subject to mission creep. ALERT ALERT ALERT Your local A & E has a >4 hour waiting time this afternoon, please take extra care to avoid accidents. ALERT ALERT ALERT A wide load is travelling down the A34, you probably weren't thinking of travelling that way anyway, but we thought it better that you know, just in case. and so on.

Send too many alerts and, like the boy that cried wolf, people will simply tune out.

As for the tests on the 22nd and 29th, I wonder if any motorists (with their mobile cradled on the dashboard) had any accidents?

Advanced warning would have been better eg through a text as per the ones issued at the start of lockdown last year.

 

[Flange Squeal]

I’d be pretty furious if it started making a noise when I was asleep or had put my phone on silent for something important.

Particularly when you’re trying to sleep during the day for a night shift, only to get woken up just for the sake of a “test”. Hopefully flight mode might be enough to stop it, if silent isn’t. Or will I have to go all old fashioned and buy an actual alarm clock, so I can turn my phone fully off!