To think there’s something a bit sinister about the Government Emergency Alert test on 7th September?

[ThisAmberSignal]

I know it’s being pitched as just a routine safety check, “nothing to worry about” but I can’t help but feel uneasy. Why now? Why the sudden push to roll this out and get everyone’s phones buzzing at the same time?
Is it really just a public safety measure or could there be something more going on here - surveillance, control, a soft rollout of something bigger?

AIBU to feel suspicious… or do others get the same vibe?

Yep, mine was 4G though so should have been OK. I was disappointed too! 😂I guess we are doomed! 😂

We're on an estate in the UK where we get wildfires every couple of years.
About one in five years turns into a big one where they struggle to contain it.

We've never been evacuated yet, but we have been in the situation of seeing ashes falling from the sky like snow - knowing that if one falls in a dry place then it will start a new fire, and we have been told to pack to prepare for evacuation.

Edited to say: The fire isn't on the estate, but in close heath/woodland. It's just across the road from the estate and the worst damage was some people lost their fences one year, but if you've ever seen a wildfire going it's scary how quickly it moves and how it suddenly pops up yards away from where it was.

I also think some of the transmitter towers for one of the phone companies didn't work for the test.
Which is obviously why these tests need to happen - to make sure it actually works.
I can't believe the hoo ha people are making over it.

Severe storms, IT outage, terrorist attack, flood, electricity outage for a start, all of which we have experienced

As they’ve been testing it for a while I don’t see why this date would be any more “sinister” than the others. We’ve had extreme weather this year and I’m sure the people who got alerts warning them of floods and storms were pleased

I’m a nerdy weather watcher. Weather warnings cover very larges swathes of a country. The national alert system should be able to alert on hyper local issues - flash floods etc. I believe it’s tied to the multi local authority response protocol. So your council, environment agency and emergency services responding to localised information.

Sorry, my reply was to @Crunchymum

Someone up thread said they live in the US and get the alert for traffic jams and missing children.
If you have anxiety, then I can imagine such alerts would just add to it. Plus what are you going to realistically do if you get an alert about a missing child at 3am? Get up and search? I doubt many people would.

Thanks I was thinking it was before the big storm. I was shopping when people's phones were going of. It sounded like a supermarket alarm of some description.

Other people saying it was 2.5 years ago is making me think I was going mad!

Here it’s used for disaster preparedness. There are no plans to use it for traffic jams. More like if you are near a terrorist attack, a major incident / accident or an extreme weather event. It would be quite nice to know if you should take action because there was a bomb or major fire, no? Or serious flooding? Or should we just leave people without warning them because another country sends different kinds of alerts?

Is there a suggestion of this being adopted in the uk though? Each country will have its own parameters.

I posted up thread about having one in Greece - hugely useful for tourists as nothing on my holiday browsing was flagging the storm that came. However, prior to that I understand there was some debate in Greece around not being too trigger happy and geowide with alerts otherwise people turn them off. (Context they had huge flooding and destruction across the central mainland, they were then shortly after that trigger happy with weather event alerts and had to go through a rationalisation processed and when the alert I heard sounded, people took it more seriously).

I’m sure the uk is learning from other countries experiences.

I can certainly see where lives could be saved.

Why indeed. That was the German hospital in Jersey for their wounded. (Been there, brilliant little piece of history!)

I really agree never have they done this.also big politicians aren't on news no more and that titanic sub implosion.god rest there souls if that is the case,but just say the powers that be no some catastrophe is coming .they will take the best ant brightest .a famous explorer the designer who designed the f25 raptor the greatest jet fighter ever.its not just that there's so many other things when have we had pm do 3 mth then step down again and again.alot of people are having this impending feeling of doom coming

Same. I recognised it right away. Well worth a visit if in Jersey.

😂

But the UK is not using it for traffic jams. Just because one country (supposedly) does this, doesn't mean the UK is intending to. The emergency alert is for "imminent danger to life."

If we used it here for traffic jams it would be permanently going off in some areas

I was at Thessaloniki airport in Greece on Thursday, and we had one about wildfires in a certain area.

It's just a test. It isn't 'sudden', they've been telling us it's going to happen for ages.

I had the craziest dream last night about war 🥺

Interesting first post, OP.

🙄

yeh I’m suspicious & I’ll be turning my fone off like i did last time…don’t want alarm to frighten the cat.

2 and a half years ago was a test.
The storm alert was an actual alert.

Last time they did the test it didn’t work on the 3 network so they’ve done updates and need to test it. Nothing sinister.

The Welsh government said it's useful for storms, flooding, it's been refined since the first time. My phone nor others didn't go off last time

What are you on about?