Worried about this phone alert?

[ditzylazymummy]

Why would they be doing it? Do you think it could mean they're worried they might need to use it soon?

as I just said on another thread so much has been made of these ‘secret mobiles’ but the only people I have ever known to have secret mobiles have been people having affairs and criminals?

I think it's just a sensible thing. I lived in a country with a higher than normal threat of terrorism, and they had a similar thing 12+ years ago. I remember once being completely freaked out to get one (it was a text not an alert but must have been sent based on proximity, as was related to a potential terrorist attack about 6 streets away). But I think I'd rather know than not know. I just locked the door and stayed at home that evening.

After a near civil war, we need to know when KFC have run out, surely ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-43140836

They've been planning the emergency system for a very long time,it's just so happens to be ready to test now.I understand why some people think there's more to it with everything else going on and it makes them feel unsettled but it's nothing to be concerned over really.

Yes. They might need to use it soon. Or in 10 years time. Or never.
But if they ever do need to use it, then it has been tested, so they know it works. Or not.

This 😅😅

You think a missing child alert would be a bad thing?

I've been pretty close to this work.
It's not a new thing and been years in the making.
Other countries are already doing this and we basically just catching up.
There is no sinister reason behind it.
The government does not use mobile phone numbers to send the alerts, rather mobile phones in the area they want to alert to an event where there is risk to life.
There is absolutely nothing you need to worry about.

This basically.

We do seem to get a large number of serve weather warnings and then find it's really not that bad at all and in previous decades wouldn't really have registered as anything much.

I do also worry kids won't turn phones off or airplane mode and choose silent when left in bags outside exam rooms - which could cause issues especially if alert is nothing much for them - so will have to remember to remind off or on airplane mode.

We've had them where I live for several years. It's been triggered twice: once for a fire where there was lots of smoke and once for a building which was starting to collapse onto a fairly major road.

They are a very good thing in my opinion - and you can disable them very easily if you're against them

Why do you think that?
Other countries have it. Like we’re one of the last to do it.
I have lived places where flash floods overnight overwhelmed people. There wasn’t warning enough to wait for the breakfast news or knock on doors. An alert would have helped. Why wouldn’t you have wanted an alert? Or if there was a leak at a power station and you had to evacuate, surely it’s quicker to move people than send the few police officers door to door etc?

@ditzylazymummy im happy it’s coming in. Places that say they’ll rely on word of mouth or social media are just strange to me.

That alerts work really well in many other countries. I'm surprised it hasn't been introduced sooner

I received one (severe weather/flash flood warning) when I was in the US in 2017. My friend now lives over there and she gets alerts with tornado warnings.

It's nothing to be suspicious of.

Don't worry, we will soon be spammed to death by 'rain' warnings and everyone sensible will have disabled it, so whatever nefarious plan is afoot will be ruined

@Twinedpeaks Of course not but the emotional blackmail is getting really fucking tiresome and post Covid restrictions people can spot EB much more clearly The "dont you care about a missing child" is the new "dont be a granny killer"

My family in Canada and the USA saw I’d shared a post about it on FB and they all said “you don’t have this already?”. Seems like we’re behind other countries on this.

Get over your paranoia it’s a test of a system that’s been in the making for years and is used in many other countries

FFS get a grip. Almost every country has something similar set up. UK is just behind. There's nothing more to it. It's a a few seconds and not the end of the world.

I already get tax return reminder texts from HMRC.

Other countries cope with these alerts, we are way behind most of them, but as soon as we get it implemented people act like headless chickens and can’t cope. I find it quite embarrassing. I know our Government is shit but governments in some other countries aren’t great either and yet the alert system in their country isn’t abused and people can get on with their daily lives without being inundated with emergency alerts. The clue is in the word ‘emergency’

What if a woman is having an affair because her husband is abusive so shes turned to someone else and husband may tip into physical abuse if he finds out. I suspect there are many on here who think that she would deserve what she gets

Don’t over think it.

Christ, why is everyone getting their knickers in a twist about this? Grow up

I've lived in Germany for the last 30 years, and until this year, the system they used was a siren warning, which they test once a month in the city where I live. The siren goes off at a certain time so you know it's working. For a few years there's also been an app you can download to get alerts, but not everyone has it.

This year, they also introduced a cell broadcast system. They tested it last year, and tested it again this March; now it's up and working.

On Saturday an unexploded bomb was found in the city. (This happens at regular intervals even so long after WW2.) They used the cell broadcast system to organise a local evacuation for a few hours. Seems to have been useful.

It's good to know that if there's, say, a flood, you'll be alerted even if you don't happen to look at the news that day. This is the latest, modern means of getting an alert.

What? No one is going to think that that's sick.