The Government's brand new Emergency Alert system, which is set for testing this weekend, may eventually be used to inform UK residents of terror attacks, nuclear threats and criminals on the loose.
While the network will initially be used to warn residents of dangerous and freak weather - like floods and wildfires in their vicinity - they could at a later point be used for a variety of emergency situations.
Millions of 4G and 5G devices across the United Kingdom are set to produce a loud alarm and vibrate come 3pm Sunday (April 23) as a nationwide test of the system lands.
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The message itself, will 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. In a real emergency, follow the instructions in the alert to keep yourself and others safe.
“Visit gov.uk/alerts for more information. This is a test. You do not need to take any action.”
The PA News Agency reports that during a press conference on Monday, a Whitehall official said: “At the moment our plans for this first pilot phase relate to severe weather and flooding, but we do expect the use of the system to broaden out. This is about threats to life and limb and situations where specific advice can be issued.
“Therefore, you can conceive that we could use this in an abduction situation, or where there was a dangerous criminal on the loose, or where we require the public to look for something for that reason. We’re going to be led by discussions with the police and other emergency services on this.
“If we were to move to the use of the system for this reason, we do so quite cautiously.”
Officials also noted that 'civil nuclear incidents' may also be crises which could trigger the informative alert in the near future. While they added that the system will not be used for a 'marauding terror attack' - due to the difficulty of spreading useful advice should the situation arise - they confirmed that 'there are other types of terrorist incidents where it might be relevant'.
A number of tests across East Suffolk and Reading have already been ran, affecting communities of around 20,000 people. In the region of 5 per cent of residents in the latter opted out of the system, after being part of the pilot - while there is also an 'active community of opposition' online.
However, the overall 'level of public support for this is incredibly high' added Whitehall.
Government officials also noted that the risk of scammers attempting to take advantage of the system for cruel and malicious ways is minimal - due to the alerts being a 'unique form of technology' rather than simple text messages or SMS alerts. The Government also said that you should treat any messages that others aren't receiving with suspicion, and always check their official website to confirm as to whether a message is genuine.
The Government are also currently working alongside a number of charities - including those who assist domestic abuse victims - to ensure that vulnerable people will not see adverse affects through the test alert this Sunday.
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