{"id":5451,"date":"2025-09-07T09:46:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T09:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/5451\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T09:46:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T09:46:12","slug":"uk-residents-and-those-in-irelands-border-counties-told-to-keep-their-cool-for-todays-emergency-alert-phone-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/5451\/","title":{"rendered":"UK residents \u2013 and those in Ireland\u2019s border counties \u2013 told to \u2018keep their cool\u2019 for today\u2019s emergency alert phone test"},"content":{"rendered":"

It will mark the second test of the system \u2013 after the first in 2023\n<\/p>\n

\"File<\/p>\n

File photo dated 23\/04\/23 of a test of a public alert system on a mobile phone (Joe Giddens\/PA)<\/p>\n

Britons have been encouraged to \u201ckeep their cool\u201d for a test of the national emergency alert system on Sunday.<\/p>\n

At around 3pm, mobile phones connected to 4G and 5G networks will vibrate and emit a siren sound for up to 10 seconds.<\/p>\n

It will mark the second test of the system \u2013 after the first in 2023.<\/p>\n

Residents in Ireland\u2019s border counties were also informed during the week that their phones could receive the emergency alert as well. <\/p>\n

Mobile phone users will also receive a message making clear that the alert is a drill.<\/p>\n

The UK government has used the system to issue real warnings five times, including in January during Storm Eowyn to warn people in Scotland and Northern Ireland about severe weather.<\/p>\n

Approximately 3.5 million people across Wales and south-west England received an alert during Storm Darragh last December.<\/p>\n

A 500kg unexploded Second World War bomb found in a Plymouth back garden triggered a warning to some 50,000 phones in February last year.<\/p>\n

Messages can be targeted to relatively small areas to pinpoint those at risk.<\/p>\n

Around 15,000 phones were alerted during flooding in Cumbria in May 2024, and 10,000 received a warning during flooding in Leicestershire in January this year.<\/p>\n

The system is designed for use during the most likely emergencies to affect the UK and warnings would also be transmitted on television, radio and locally by knocking on doors.<\/p>\n

UK government officials have also met with domestic violence charities and campaigners for discussions on helping those who may need to opt out of the test.<\/p>\n

Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: \u201cI know Brits will keep their cool when phones across the UK make a siren-like noise today (Sunday) at 3pm. It\u2019s important to remember this is only a test, just like the fire drills we all do in our schools and workplaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re carrying out the test to make sure the system works well when we need it most, and afterwards, we\u2019ll work with mobile network operators to assess performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe test takes just 10 seconds, but it helps us keep the country safe 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It will mark the second test of the system \u2013 after the first in 2023 File photo dated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60,898],"class_list":{"0":"post-5451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-latest-news-ticker"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}