The UK government’s new Emergency Alerts system is now live and a UK-wide test of the system will take place on Sunday 23 April at 3pm. You may feel it is appropriate to adjust timings of services, such as postponing the start of 3pm Evensong, accordingly.
The system gives the government and emergency services the capability to send an alert directly to mobile phones when there is a risk to life, such as severe flooding. The alert itself will take the form of a message on mobile phone home screens, accompanied by a loud, siren-like sound and vibration that will last about 10 seconds, even if the device is set to silent. No action needs to be taken.
Victims of domestic abuse or vulnerable individuals, who have a concealed phone, can switch off the alert. They can opt out by locating their phone settings for ‘Emergency alerts’ and turn off notifications, including those for ‘Severe alerts’ and ‘Extreme alerts’.
Find out more at gov.uk/alerts.
Watch a short video showing how the emergency alert works.