This bloody emergency alert

[Random789]

It's going to be like when they test the fire alarm at work, isn't it?
You get more and more tense waiting for it, then three minutes before it is due to go off you forget all about it. Then it does go off and you scream like a lunatic and jump so hard that you dislocate something in your neck.

I'd rather just get fried in a nuclear attack and avoid all the stress.

Can you though? Apparently it still goes off if you have it on silent

It woke my husband but I slept right thru it😂

We spent a few years in the US in a tornado alley state and they were a fairly regular occurance during tornado season. Also very occasionally for child abductions - apparently the first few minutes after an abduction are absolutely critical, hence the blanket broadcast to everyone in the locality. Never had an active shooter one.

Personally I can't see it even being used in the event of a wholesale nuclear attack or anything of that nature - what would be the point? Much more likely to be used at a local level to advise of local emergencies.

I'm going to the funeral of a lady this week who was a young teen in ww2, she grew up in the east end, sirens went off and she dived into the shelter under the kitchen table, the whole house was flattened.

She was dug out of the rubble and said to the air raid warden "are mum and dad OK", "No love, they're dead" was the reply that came back, from then on she was on her own. Different generation, tough as they come.

The drama about it is unreal. My family in the USA think we’re all nuts because it’s totally normal for them. So many people turning off their alarm. So you don’t want to help find missing dc or be aware of major incidents and actions that could protect you?

Most people I know have turned it off for various reasons! We have an elderly population who it will scare, if anything bad happens we are in a small town and FB knows before the police!, No chance of floods or wildfires, don't trust the government to hash it up or abuse it, some other theory! That was the reasons given in a local chat room! Like.i said only a small town but I only know of 1 person whose left it on!

you have to go into settings and turn it off which is exactly what ive done leaving it on silent wont work

@Hawkins003

Agreed!!

When I was a child a siren used to go off somewhere in the city each morning, clearly heard in my house and later, on the way to school. My parents told me it was air raid sirens from the war being tested to make sure they still worked in case they were needed again. So I grew up thinking air raids could start anytime ( but at least we’d get a warning 😳) I was in my 30s ( and had long ago left the city) before I realised it was a factory siren giving the five minute warning for clocking on. My parents were sadistic bastards but at least an alarm going off for 10 seconds won’t bother me so every cloud.

@Wishfulthinking1977 we have an elderly population who are aware of air raid sirens. Let your relatives know but seriously, anyone unaware will probably just go “oooh what’s I noise?”

In the 80’s we had those terrifying adverts and public information broadcasts on what to do if there was a nuclear war, as well as leaflets posted through everyone’s door. Now people are terrified of a ten second alarm! It’s mind boggling.

Think it's more due to they struggle to use their phones at the best of times, so might wonder what's going on! Tried explaining but it's easier to disable it.

A emergency alert was sent out accidentally in Hawaii a couple of years ago.

Half the population just looked at each other like "Is this it ?! What do we do??"

The other half assumed it was a storm warning & ignored it.

So the chances of us all reacting appropriately to a real event are pretty small lol

Calm down people your phone isnt going to suddenly combust in your hand it will be just like any other notification you get, talk about creating drama!!

Why are people so worked up about one test message... honestly! Get a grip! People disabling it defies the whole point, but if you're going to be that distressed by one forewarned, pre-planned test message, you're probably best off disabling the alert. Don't we just have to look at the floods last year or situation in Ukraine to see how useful this kind of warming could be? Just seems logical to have ways to communicate ready in case of emergency. We've just had a pandemic for goodness sake, the unexpected can happen!

Oh here we go, the latest 'trendy-bandwagon' "I'm turning the alert off, I'm cool!"

Very reminiscent of "I'm not having the Covid vaccine, they* haven't done enough tests/we don't know what's in it!" (All said whilst shoving packaged food & drinks into their mouths with unknown ingredients)

*'they' being Virology Professors who've been studying SARS-type viruses (& creating vaccines for them) for their entire working lives, some for 40/50+ years! But ya know, Bob down the pub knows better 🤷🏼‍♀️

So this emergency alert - which isn't just for major attacks, but also for local missing children or very dangerous individuals on the loose etc - won't actually be received by those on the trendy-bandwagon and those who are a bit paranoid! Brilliant 😳 Totally defeats the object then really, doesn't it?!

What's the point of knowing that a nuclear weapon is coming at you anyway? It's not like you can stop it.

All phones are going to receive it

MISSING CHILDREN

Happy to say that has never been my reaction to a fire alarm at work. Nor that of my colleagues.

It isn't just for national emergencies. It would be used, for instance, for people in flood or fire areas, or to let you know to look out for a missing child.

Chances are it wouldn't be used for this. But it will be very useful for other sorts of emergencies.

Why?

We already have flood alerts, get them through the landline. It's the only time the fucking thing ever rings, apart from my mum and cold callers. I panicked the first time but now I ignore them. (We have never flooded nor been close to flooding.) They're a pita tbh.

What time and day is it going off again?