Britain to trial mass text alerts warning public of major threats
BRITAIN is planning to introduce USstyle mass mobile phone alerts to protect the public against terrorism, major floods and nuclear attack.
A major new early warning system for deadly threats will be trialled later this year, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. The technology allows messages to be sent to thousands of mobile phones in areas deemed at risk. If the pilot project is successful, officials want to roll out the system across the country.
Supporters of so-called “cell broadcasting” claim the message alerts could have saved lives during major incidents including the London Bridge terrorist attack and Grenfell Tower fire. In theory they could be sent to every mobile phone in the country.
Senior figures have raised concerns, however, that the messages could be hijacked by hackers or malicious foreign powers to induce mass panic.
Backed by the police, the plan is being overseen by the Cabinet Office’s Civil Contingencies Secretariat, the body responsible for emergency planning. Major mobile phone operators have helped develop the system for use in the UK, documents show.
The approach is already used widely in other countries including the United States and India. In January 2018, an incoming missile alert caused by a junior worker accidentally pressing the wrong button plunged residents of Hawaii into panic.
The first major cell broadcasting trial will be carried out by the Environment Agency later this year, and comes after thousands of people were evacuated from the town of Whaley Bridge in August amid fears that a nearby dam was on the brink of collapse.
The Government has hired the Japanese technology firm Fujitsu to examine how the technology can be rolled out across the country. If the trial is successful, officials want to use the system to warn people at risk from lifethreatening incidents, such as radiation leaks or terrorist attacks.
The plan has been championed by Lord Harris of Haringey, who sits on the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy and first recommended it during a 2016 report on London’s preparedness for terror attacks.
“We should have done this long ago,” Lord Harris told The Telegraph. “The authorities need to be able to get their
‘The authorities need to be able to get their message out as quickly and authoritatively as possible’
message out as quickly and authoritatively as possible. People need to be told to keep away from an area, or make certain preparations, and so on.
“If for example there had been something available to the fire commander at Grenfell Tower then perhaps people inside could have been informed that the evacuation plan had changed – that they should no longer stay put and escape instead. The same goes for a terrorist attack like London Bridge.”
A working group involving the Cabinet Office and emergency services is understood to be discussing the exact wording of the alerts to ensure they do not create confusion.