Emergency text alerts will be sent to every phone in the UK later this year as part of a drill to prepare the country for war or other disaster.
The first test for the nationwide smartphone warning system was sent in April 2023, while the alerts have been used since then for real-life emergencies to people in particular regions of the country affected by flooding and red weather warnings.
But The i Paper understands a further nationwide test for the alert – a 10-second high-pitched siren and vibration – will be sent to every UK phone this year, and the drill is likely to be repeated every two years.
The Government’s National Security Strategy, launched this week, issued a stark warning that the country now had to “actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario”.
The document said the government will also launch “public communications to inform citizens about preparedness for risks”.
This is expected to include advertising campaigns to make the public aware of the nationwide alerts, as well as pointing Britons to the government’s Prepare website, which contains information on how households can stock up on emergency supplies and make plans and escape routes in case of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
It includes details such as packing a so-called “grab bag” for leaving home in an emergency, and keeping a kit of supplies at home, such as a torch, power bank, battery-powered radio, bottled water, non-perishable food and a first aid kit.
The strategy also highlighted the Government’s annual “Tier 1” emergency exercises, which involve several Whitehall departments, police, NHS, councils and other public sector bodies, taking part in simulations to ready the authorities for a disaster.
Planning for other disasters, including pandemic ‘wargaming’
This year’s exercise will take place this autumn and will simulate a pandemic which has hit the UK.
Module One of the Covid Inquiry heard criticism that the Government was not prepared for a coronavirus pandemic, which involved people passing on the virus without symptoms, because all previous planning had gone into a possible influenza outbreak.
It is understood that nearly all of the civil servants and other public sector workers taking part in the pandemic exercise this autumn will not be told what type of pathogen the simulated scenario involves, meaning that all aspects of the response are stress-tested.
The pandemic exercise will take place over several months, for one day at a time, rather than an intensive two-day simulation, to replicate a “real-life” outbreak unfolding over a long period.
It will not involve civilians but will include local resilience forums like police, fire, ambulance, councils, NHS, the UK Health Security Agency, transport companies, utilities and phone companies as well as government departments.
Preparing for a wide range of threats
Keir Starmer, at the Nato summit in the Hague on Wednesday, was asked whether people should start thinking seriously about Cold War-style preparations.
He said: “It is a mistake to think that the only threat we face is external and far off. We do face threats at home all the time, on a daily basis, there are cyber attacks that have to be dealt with and are being dealt with, they are ever more sophisticated, and we need to have the capability to deal with them.
“Equally in relation to energy, that is being weaponised quite obviously in the last few years, you can see that in what’s happened in Ukraine, and also on the question of counter terrorism and state-backed actions in our country… a very big threat with very many attempts to infiltrate our systems…
“That is a real threat to our country that we have to take seriously… a cyber attack is an attack on our country by our adversaries. Russia and Iran are carrying out those attacks on a regular basis, and we have to be prepared for them.”
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