UK Emergency Alert Tests

[Baxenden Bank]

As the news article says, the Alert System is to launch in October.

Everyone (with a suitable phone) will receive a welcome message. There is a short video, linked from the article explaining things.

I shall give them the welocme message and one chance. If they waste that chance with a Met Office style 'severe weather warning' which isn't severe or whatever, they will get blocked. The video includes the 'alert tone'.

Emergency alert system to launch in October across Great Britain

Emergency alert system to launch in October across Great Britain

By Tom Symonds
Home Affairs correspondent

15 August 2022

An emergency warning system, allowing alerts about severe weather and other life-threatening events to be sent to mobile phones, will go live in October in England, Scotland and Wales.

The Cabinet Office says the technology will alert up to 85% of the population.

The messages will be sent automatically to any smartphone which is switched on, although it is possible to opt out by changing a mobile phone setting.

Trials of the alerts were held in Reading and East Suffolk this year.

A government publicity campaign will begin in September, and every phone in England, Scotland and Wales, will receive a "welcome message" in October.

The system will eventually cover the whole of the UK, says the government.

The Cabinet Office says the alerts, which will look and sound different to standard messages, will be able to give highly localised warnings of:

• flooding
• fires
• extreme weather
• public health emergencies

Terror attacks could also be added to the list of potential scenarios to trigger a message.

Officials would not discuss the arrangements for warning the population of an impending military or nuclear attack on the country.

About 85% of people have a smartphone capable of receiving the messages, it is estimated.

The government does not have statistics for the number of older 2G and 3G mobile devices in use, and stresses it does not keep a list of all phone users.

The system works by sending a message and a distinctive warning tone to mobiles directly via cell towers, rather than accessing a list of mobile numbers.

An alert can be sent to a single tower, meaning anyone in the vicinity could pick it up, even, for example, when travelling through the area.

The government will draw on the expertise of specialist agencies, such as the Met Office or the Environment Agency, in deciding when to trigger alerts.

The messages can only be sent by the emergency messages or the government. Anyone who is concerned that an alert may not be genuine can check on the government website at www.gov.uk/alerts, where all messages will be listed.

Opting out​

All phones will be opted into the scheme and users will have to opt out if they don't want the messages - but data from the trials suggests most will not do that.

Touring the Met Office in Exeter on Monday, senior Cabinet Office Minister Kit Malthouse defended the opt-out arrangement.

"You have the ability to turn it off if you really don't want to know that these things are coming to your area and are going to affect you," he said.

"Our job is to keep people safe. We have the information to keep them safe. We need to make sure that we broadcast it as far and wide as we can.

"We will only use it in those very dangerous situations. There's not going to be a general kind of spam system."

Met Office executive director Ian Cameron says that as the climate crisis brings more severe weather events, emergency alerts could become ever more important.

"If we issue a warning, I would say to people, just be aware of it and actually think about taking some action on it, because this stuff we warn about can be very impactful."

The government says countries already using emergency alerts include:

• France and Greece to warn of wildfires this summer
• New Zealand, where a similar system has been "widely credited with saving lives"

The most common emergency in the UK is flooding, says the Cabinet Office.

Fear or reassurance?​

In 2014, a large area of the Somerset Levels flooded, resulting in whole villages being underwater.

We showed a government video of the new system to Bryony Sadler, whose home in the village of Moorland was affected

She said it was "a positive" but thought the piercing tone was a "formidable sound" and the stark message could upset older people.

"They maybe don't even have mobile phones. It might give people more fear than reassurance."

Her main concern was whether the system would be appropriate to major flooding events, which tend to build up slowly rather than happen suddenly.

"If you do get that sound, does that mean people are going to come and help?"

Communities need to be ready to support themselves, she says.

"You know what's coming. You've got to rely on the locals. It's all about community, helping your neighbour, sorting yourself out, then giving time back to other people."

In Moorland, a system of powerful pumps has since been installed to return water back to the river when it floods, and dredging of waterways was stepped up.

Farmer James Winslade, who was closely involved with recovery efforts in 2014, says the new messaging system is not the answer.

"The government needs to invest in maintenance rather than in text messages - the Environment Agency already do a text messaging system to warn of floods," he said.

"It's a man-made watercourse. There's nothing natural about it. Anything manmade needs maintenance."

 

[Southern Dvr]

Is this for when Putin fires the nukes?

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Is this for when Putin fires the nukes?

As per the article:

Officials would not discuss the arrangements for warning the population of an impending military or nuclear attack on the country.

Which is not reassuring. I guess the sudden increase in private jets leaving small regional airports/local airstrips, packed with rats, would be the giveaway.

 

[Southern Dvr]

As per the article:

Which is not reassuring. I guess the sudden increase in private jets leaving small regional airports/local airstrips, packed with rats, would be the giveaway.

Well it would at least clear some of the rat population!!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

As per the article:

I guess the sudden increase in private jets leaving small regional airports/local airstrips, packed with rats, would be the giveaway.

I doubt they could scramble their jets in the 3 minute warning window anyway. If Putin presses the button, there is no point in anyone doing anything other than firing everything they ahve back at him.

Now, more seriously, these alerts - will they over-ride the "do not disturb" function on a phone so it would sound and buzz? Would it do so continuously rather than like with a normal incoming message?

 

[Baxenden Bank]

I doubt they could scramble their jets in the 3 minute warning window anyway. If Putin presses the button, there is no point in anyone doing anything other than firing everything they ahve back at him.

Now, more seriously, these alerts - will they over-ride the "do not disturb" function on a phone so it would sound and buzz? Would it do so continuously rather than like with a normal incoming message?

It will make a tone until you cancel it, whether it overrides 'do not disturb' is not stated. It is only received by phones which are turned on though.

 

[Scotrail314209]

Conspiracy theorists will have a field day with this.

I’m glad that there is a system like this, most other developed nations have had them for years. Why have we only just caught up?

 

[Lloyds siding]

Until the end of the cold war (1992) the civil defence sirens were tested on the first Tuesday of every month...I think it was at 10am. If you didn't hear one then it meant that you weren't near a nuclear bunker.
Other sirens I've heard include the one at Park Lane/Moss Side secure mental hospital in Maghull, Merseyside (now Ashworth): I remember both the regular tests...and also 'alerts', when an inmate was 'missing'.
The most interesting I've heard is that of the Coastguard at Grange-over-Sands to warn of the impending tidal bore racing up the Kent estuary towards Grange/Arnside.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Aug 2022 ==

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.

These current proposals are pretty well the exact opposite of those proposed to occur in 'emergencies' in the plans 10-15 years ago. The general public mobile phones would not have been able to access the network (to avoid overloading the system); only 'priority' phones (like mine) would have been able to operate! You would have been cowed and fearful because the infrastructure didn't work for you!

 

[MattA7]

Why would some want to opt out of a warning system that could save them from potential harm?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Why would some want to opt out of a warning system that could save them from potential harm?

Don't know about you, but if it's 3am and Putin sends his nukes over I want to be asleep and then immediately dead, without being aware of the transition between the two.

Re other stuff, it depends how many false or excessively de-minimis warnings there end up being. For instance I'd not be interested in being woken up in the night for a flood warning for the nearby flood prone areas because my house is on top of a hill, so if my house is flooded then we're talking a biblical level of floods, with central Bletchley and Emerson Valley under at least 20 metres of water - has that ever happened other than deliberately or in a tsunami which is hardly going to reach part of the country that is being close to furthest from the coast possible?

By contrast if I lived near a nuclear power station I might want to know about that so I can evacuate, but aren't there siren based systems for that already?

 

[Lost property]

When I grew up, there used to be an air-raid siren on the top of our tallest school building which used to get a regular test. Was quite a racket especially when we had a lesson on the 3rd (top) floor It hasn't gone off for a long while now so I presume that it has been removed/decommissioned

For many years and certainly in the 80's, Stockport would routinely test an air raid siren, I think it was located on the Town Hall....which came as a surprise and for reasons nobody could really understand....there again my faith in air raid sirens was frequently diminished when the "bad guys" on the day would arrive at low level...always entertaining, and the siren would sound, erm, after they'd "attacked".

This latest proposal however, whilst fine in principle, does, as other have said, have all the potential to be subjected to many forms of "warnings" which could be considered as being irrelevant as such...just like the "FOG" warnings on Motorways....when the visibility is perfect.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Conspiracy theorists will have a field day with this.

I’m glad that there is a system like this, most other developed nations have had them for years. Why have we only just caught up?

I like a good conspiracy theory. Hopefully I know that is what most of them are though. There is fun to be had annoying the experts (real or self-appointed) telling us what to think and do all the time.

Unfortunately the people telling us here that 'they do not have a list of all mobile numbers' are the same people telling us 'there were no parties in Downing Street' etc. So, expert witness, you spread a falsehood previously, so how do we know which of your future answers are true and which are false? Oh you've had a 'road to Damascas' moment and now tell the 100% truth.

Credibility in government is very thin, into that void rush the propagators of conspiracy theories.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Aug 2022 ==

Why would some want to opt out of a warning system that could save them from potential harm?

False alerts, misuse use of the system, constant pestering by 'the nanny state'. Mission creep once you have paid for a system you might as well use it - traffic alerts, hospital A & E delays, it's really hot please drink water.

The onus is on the system controllers to ensure that it remains only for genuine life or death events. My ideal is that I will simply never receive an alert because those events that deserve an alert are so rare.

 

[ainsworth74]

Don't know about you, but if it's 3am and Putin sends his nukes over I want to be asleep and then immediately dead, without being aware of the transition between the two.

Quite! Direct hit please so I'm gone instantly. I have no desire to survive and then die of radiation poisoning, burns, illness, starvation, dehydration or whatever other combination of things will rapidly kill of most of the survivors. It's one of my more perverse concerns about nuclear war. That Russia's nuclear forces have been so slashed (objectively a good thing!) that they won't get the job done properly and I've now got a much higher chance of surviving the initial exchange than I would have in say 1975. To be fair, I'm probably still okay, the remaining industry of Teesside as well as Tees Port are probably enough of a target for even the reduced Russian forces to drop at least a couple of warheads on us which should be close enough to ensure it's lights off either immediately or very very rapidly.

By contrast if I lived near a nuclear power station I might want to know about that so I can evacuate, but aren't there siren based systems for that already?

I live, on a fairly clear day, in sight of Hartlepool Nuclear Power Plant and can't say I've ever heard any siren tests for it. Which isn't to say that there isn't one but it can have a great deal of coverage if so!

For many years and certainly in the 80's, Stockport would routinely test an air raid siren, I think it was located on the Town Hall....which came as a surprise and for reasons nobody could really understand....

The national siren network was very widespread and indeed should have provided national coverage. In most urban areas this meant sirens on major public buildings (so schools, town hall, police stations and so on) or wherever room could be found. Most were linked into the telephone line connected to a local police station and the police station was linked into the national system which would distribute the alert (over the same line as the speaking clock, saved money!). Police would get the warning and activate the sirens. Where that wasn't possible a either a local Royal Observer Corps bunker would use a hand cranked siren or a "trusted person" (clergy, doctor, etc) would be given a hand cranked siren and a unit at home and/or work to receive the warning and would then be expected to crank their siren to provide the warning. Whilst the automated part of the system probably worked as designed throughout the Cold War I have to say that I rather that by the 1980s the manual part could have been anything other than a bit ropey! Though I think it was only every very rural locations that were covered by that.

There's a couple of very dated(!), but interesting, videos on YouTube about the whole system which can be found below:

Of course the reality is that by the time the system was fully operational in the mid-60s nuclear weapons technology had moved on and the whole thing would have broken down within minutes of the initial attack with perhaps a few bits here and there still working (you can sort of see this in Threads actually as some of the information that they get in the Sheffield bunker must be coming from a few fragmented remains of this network but the idea that it would be a highly organised WW2 like set up is clearly nonsense). It was clearly a system designed for the 1950s when it would have been comparatively low yield Hiroshima like weapons often delivered by bomber rather than high yield devices delivered by the hundred by missile.

there again my faith in air raid sirens was frequently diminished when the "bad guys" on the day would arrive at low level...always entertaining, and the siren would sound, erm, after they'd "attacked".

Depends on the method of attack! Its possible a low level strike by cruise missile or aircraft could sneak underneath the detection of radar systems, that's one of the reason low level strikes are preferred, easier to evade enemy air defences. But its doubtful then or now that Russia had sufficient to launch a large enough strike on this method without also utilising long range missiles which will very quickly appear on radar screens. There's always the concern that a "bolt blue" against command and control could sneak under the radar (literally!) a sub-launched ballistic missile at an oblique angle from off the US coast targeted at Washington and a cruise missile against London (or probably more accurately Northwood) but for most of us we would have received some warning because when the main attack came it wasn't going to be sneaking through...

Anyway enough of this Cold War business that's so last century we've got a whole new Cold War to enjoy

I do think it's logical for their to be some method of providing a national warning to people and using the mobile phone network is quite a logical way of doing it. Most people will have a phone capable of receiving a message and many of them have it with them nearly all the time day or night. It benefits from the same idea of using the speaking clock and public telephone lines for the old national siren network. Shares infrastructure (saving cost) and because it's being used all the time for something else faults will be spotted rapidly so you only have to worry about testing the specialist kit that hooks in rather than the entire network (saving more money and giving surety that it will work when needed!).

But as with others I do rather worry about whether it will be abused. Telling me the local chemical works has gone pop (which we do have a siren for) is helpful or that there's a flood or wildfire on the way also helpful. But I can foresee someone getting carried away...

 

[Cowley]

Thread reopened as requested by @Baxenden Bank.

Testing testing….

 

[yorksrob]

The most interesting I've heard is that of the Coastguard at Grange-over-Sands to warn of the impending tidal bore racing up the Kent estuary towards Grange/Arnside.

I heard that one. It was quite a surprise !

 

[Scotrail314209]

I genuinely wonder how the public will react to the first test. Even though there will probably be constant notice about it, people will likely begin to panic.

It’s a good system to have though and I’m happy we’ve finally got one.

 

[Meerkat]

I genuinely wonder how the public will react to the first test. Even though there will probably be constant notice about it, people will likely begin to panic.

It’s a good system to have though and I’m happy we’ve finally got one.

Fortunately the alarm noise is a fairly standard alarm, rather than some really scary siren noise or suchlike!
Its all good until someone pushes the wrong button and sends out the incoming ballistic missiles warning, as happened in Hawaii IIRC.

 

[315801]

The only information I have found about the test is that it will be carried out in the early evening of April 23rd, I have not seen or heard anything about any other scheduled dates for tests of the alert system.

I would also like to add that I read about it on the teletext on the bbc news channel last night.

 

[Mojo]

Already switched off the alerts function on my iPhone….

 

[adc82140]

Already switched off the alerts function on my iPhone….

Same on my Android phone, but unfortunately I can't do it on my company issue Android phone, so I'll still have to put up with the noise pollution.

 

[Meerkat]

Same on my Android phone, but unfortunately I can't do it on my company issue Android phone, so I'll still have to put up with the noise pollution.

It’s a one off! And if it isn’t then it’s probably something you need to know.

 

[MikeWM]

I've just seen somebody on Twitter making the rather good point that this - particularly the fact that it will sound even if you have sound turned off - puts at risk people in precarious domestic situations that have a 'secret' phone they don't want other people they live with to know about.

But of course the government don't care less about that, as long as they can continue to push fearmongering onto the general public.

 

[birchesgreen]

It will make a sound if your phone is set to silent?

 

[Darandio]

It will make a sound if your phone is set to silent?

That's what the article on the BBC is saying.

 

[Ediswan]

It will make a sound if your phone is set to silent?

Maybe ...
https://www.gov.uk/alerts

Your mobile phone or tablet may:

• make a loud siren-like sound, even if it’s set on silent
• vibrate
• read out the alert

The sound and vibration will last for about 10 seconds.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Well, I asked for the thread to be re-opened to quote the story but everyone seems to know already!

Here you go:
BBC News story regarding a nationwide test message.

Public emergency alerts to be sent to all UK mobile phones

A siren-like alert will be sent to mobile phone users across the UK next month to test a new government public warning system.

It allows the government and emergency services to send urgent messages warning the public of life-threatening situations like flooding or wildfires.

The test is expected to take place in the early evening of 23 April.

Phone users will have to acknowledge the alert before they can use other features on their devices.

A message will appear on the home screens of people's devices during the test, with vibration and a loud warning sound that will ring for about 10 seconds, even if the phone is set to silent.

The system - which became operational on Sunday - is being modelled on similar schemes used in the US, Canada, Japan and The Netherlands.

Messages would only ever come from the government or emergency services and will initially focus on the most serious weather-related events, with the ability to get a message to 90% of mobile users within the relevant area.

Terror alerts could be added to the list of potential events that would trigger a notification.

The messages will include details of the area impacted and instructions about how to respond. They will only be sent where there is an immediate risk to life and many people may not receive an alert for months or years.

Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden told the BBC the warnings are sent in a "very targeted way" and other than the test, he hopes many people will never hear the alert again.

People can opt out by searching their device settings for emergency alerts and then turning off severe and extreme ones. Officials say the alerts could be life-saving, though, advising against switching them off.

Alerts 'can save a life'​

The Cabinet Office says the service will be secure, free to receive and will not collect personal information such as someone's telephone number, identity or location.

The new system uses cell broadcasting technology and messages will be based on someone's current location - but location services do not need to be switched on to receive the alerts.

That is because when an alert is triggered, all cell towers in a defined area will broadcast it, allowing the message to reach an area the size of an electoral ward.

The government has released a video of what the alerts will sound like.

Trials have already been held in Reading and East Suffolk. People will also be alerted if they are in one of 19 other countries which currently use them.

Mr Dowden, whose role as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster gives him oversight of the preparation and planning for emergencies, said the technology would "revolutionise our ability to warn and inform people who are in immediate danger".

And he told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme the alert is "a sound that can save your life".

He said people are likely to hear the alert in instances where there has been a major flood and "your house was at risk of being inundated and your life is at risk".

National Fire Chiefs Council chairman Mark Hardingham said the new system would help fire and rescue services to do their jobs "and to help communities in the event of emergencies".

He said: "We've seen this type of system in action elsewhere across the world and we look forward to having the facility here in the UK - by working together with fire services and partners, we want this system to help us to help you be as safe as you can if a crisis does hit."

The Environment Agency's Caroline Douglas, executive director for flood and coastal erosion risk management, said the system would allow officials to communicate warnings in a "timely and accurate manner".

In response to @MikeWM and @birchesgreen the only ways to avoid the alert are to have your phone turned off, have it in aeroplane mode, disable the software, or I suppose not have a phone at all.

I find it less than acceptable that the system disables your use of your phone for purposes you want to use it for until you acknowledge the alert. Just whose phone is it and who do they think they are to take control of my phone?

I really don't see many emergencies for which this system can be properly used. As has been mentioned, chemical works, Broadmoor and such like already have alert systems. I have relatives who live on the Somerset Levels. Believe me they know when there is the potential for a 'significant weather related event'. As an aside, can you imagine a GWR service passing their house (approaching Taunton from London) if this alert system is activated on the phone masts close to the line, suddenly the phones of a trainload of passengers start screeching!

I wonder how long the alarm will continue for if you don't cancel it, or can't cancel it because your phone is at home and you're not - such as having a personal and work phone. Like if you forget to turn off you bedside alarm clock when you go away on holiday, will it continue for an hour every day annoying the neighbours?

EDIT, OK I've read the story it will go on for 10 seconds!

 

[Techniquest]

I heard about this earlier this evening, and I think it's a good idea. I would hope to never get an alert after the test one comes through, but I suspect it is only a matter of time before an alert is received. Given that (like many of us on here) I travel quite a bit, in the coming decades it could well happen. If it does, and obviously I hope it never happens, and I'm in an area I'm not too familiar with then it could be very useful.

I guess it depends on how it works, but one thing that is certain, it's going to cause a lot of interesting reactions! I see it's due to happen on a Sunday evening, so I ought to be indoors that evening and not out adventuring. At least I'll receive it when I've not got my phone off at work, so I know what it is and can react better than if I was to get it immediately after switching it on after finishing late in the night.

Hopefully it will be implemented well, and this test is the only time we'll ever receive an alert!

 

[nlogax]

I've experienced these tests when they've happened in other countries. Muting your phone won't work but there are specific broadcast alert settings available to you in either Android or iOS as long as your device is reasonably up to date.

Certainly this will be a complete shock for some, these alert tones are quite loud and audibly different to standard phone alarms.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

They say they're to alert the public in case of bad weather or terrorist incidents, but surely they must also be thinking of the heightened possibility of warning against a military attack?

 

[birchesgreen]

I'm sure this ability won't be abused by the government.