Public emergency alerts to be sent to all UK mobile phones

• A new government public warning system will be tested next month.
• Sending an alert that sounds like a siren to mobile phone users to alert them.
• The technology will revolutionize our ability to warn and notify individuals in immediate danger.

Next month, a new government public warning system will be tested by sending an alert that sounds like a siren to mobile phone users throughout the UK.

It enables the government and emergency agencies to urgently alert the populace to potentially fatal events like wildfires or flooding.

The test is anticipated to happen on April 23 in the early evening.

Before using additional capabilities on their phones, users must first acknowledge the notice.

During the test, a message will show on people’s home screens along with a vibration and a loud warning sound that will ring for approximately 10 seconds, even if the phone is on mute.

The system, which went into operation on Sunday, is based on comparable program used in the United States, Canada, Japan, and the Netherlands.

In order to reach 90% of cell users in the affected area, messages would only ever be sent by the government or emergency services and would initially focus on the most serious weather-related situations.

Terror warnings might be added to the list of potential occurrences that would trigger a notification.

The notifications will provide information about the affected area as well as directions on how to react.

There may be months or years before many individuals receive an alert because they won’t be delivered unless there is an imminent risk to life.

Oliver Dowden, a cabinet minister, told the Media that the alerts are given in a “very focused way” and that, aside from the test, he hopes many people won’t ever hear them again.

By looking through their device settings for emergency notifications and disabling severe and extreme ones, users can choose not to get them.

Authorities, however, claim that the notifications could save lives and advise against turning them off.

Life can be saved via alerts

According to the Cabinet Office, the service will be safe, cost nothing to use, and not track users’ whereabouts, identities, or phone numbers.

Although location services do not have to be turned on in order to receive the notifications, the new method leverages cell broadcasting technology and messages will be dependent on the recipient’s present position.

This is so that the message can spread throughout an area the size of an electoral ward when an alert is issued, which causes all cell towers in a specific area to broadcast it.

The sound of the alarms has been captured on camera by the government.

Trials have already taken place in East Suffolk and Reading. Also, if a person is in one of the other 19 nations that utilize them, they will receive notification.

Mr. Dowden said the technology will “revolutionize our ability to warn and notify individuals who are in immediate danger.” As Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, he is in charge of emergency planning and readiness.

Additionally, he stated that the alert is “a sound that can save your life” on the with Laura Kuenssberg show.

He claimed that when there has been a significant flood and “your house was at risk of being inundated and your life is at stake,” people are more likely to hear the alert.

Mark Hardingham, head of the National Fire Chiefs Council, stated that the new system would assist fire and rescue services in carrying out their duties “and to assist communities in the case 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 method will allow officials to issue warnings “timely and accurately,” according to Caroline Douglas, executive director for flood and coastal erosion risk management at the Environment Agency.

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