Service Alert — can the UK not take news seriously?

Gracie Moore, Lifestyle Editor, gives her take on the recent emergency alert and its effectiveness

ON Sunday 23rd April, our phones all blared for a few seconds, a mock announcement organised by the government to test their new emergency alert system. While we had been prepared by the news for many weeks, it still came as a shock to many of us and led us to wonder whether there was really any point to it.

which the new system will protect against) is increasing because of the scorching summers that are predicted to become more common.

Despite this, there is still a question as to whether the UK is the best country to introduce the emergency alert.

In many ways, this new alert system will be extremely helpful as it will alert people to floods, especially those who live on the coast and are more vulnerable to it. Also, with climate change affecting the UK more and more each year, it’s important to note that the risk of wildfires (the extensive damage of

The announcement would supposedly be used to alert people about imminent life-threatening events such as wildfires and floods and it was modelled off other countries’ alert systems such as the USA, Japan and the Netherlands. However, when considering these countries’ vulnerability to natural disaster, it pulls into question the efficacy of it here in the UK. The three aforementioned countries are extremely likely to experience these disasters along with earthquakes and tsunamis (in the USA and Japan) and therefore, it is easy to see why the system has been implemented here.

Alongside being almost completely obsolete in terms of the UK’s risk of disaster, it is not easy to turn the system off from our phones and this increases the risk of exposing secret phones. Many people in abusive relationships, for example, have secret second phones which they use to communicate with loved ones and friends, outside of the watchful eye of their abusive partner or person they live with. Therefore, the alert blaring on any and all phones will bring to attention the existence of these phones and puts the person in danger.

Also, it won’t be long before this system is targeted by fraud and fake alerts are brought up on some phones. For many, it won’t be easy to tell whether it is fake or not and this will create confusion as to what procedures to take.

Overall, I wouldn’t say that this country is the best place to introduce the Emergency Alert System as despite being cautious, it can be seen to be pointless. Flooding for