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The UK is set to test its new emergency alert system on Sunday, with millions of mobile phones set to emit a loud alarm and vibrate at 3:00 pm local time (1400 GMT).
The nationwide system, which is modelled on similar schemes in counties like Canada, Japan, the Netherlands and the United States, aims to warn the public if there is a danger to life nearby, reported AFP.
What will the text say?
The display text would read, “This is a test of Emergency Alerts, a new UK government service that will warn you if there’s a life-threatening emergency nearby.”
How will the system work?
Emergency services and the British government hope to use the system to alert people to issues such as severe flooding and fires. The alerts are broadcast via mobile phone masts and work on all 4G and 5G phone networks.
It means whoever sends an alert does not need the mobile numbers, so it’s not something one needs to reply to, nor will you receive a voicemail if you miss it. No location or other data will be collected, either.
Ministers hope it will get the public used to what the alerts look and sound like, in case they need to be sent out in the future during crises such as extreme weather, flooding, and fires reported Sky News.
Criticism of the plan
Some Conservative leaders have criticised the plan, with former minister Jacob Rees-Mogg urging people to defy the government’s calls and “switch off the unnecessary and intrusive alert”.
“It is back to the nanny state — warning us, telling us, mollycoddling us when instead they should just let people get on with their lives,” he said.
Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine, ex-wife of government minister Michael Gove, called the plans “terrifying”.
“This Sunday, at 3 pm… the government intends to rattle our collective cages by invading our mobile phones — and our privacy — with its absurd emergency test signal. The notion is as terrifying as it is tiresome,” she wrote.
(With agency inputs)
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