Date set for UK's first phone-based emergency alert test

London: A siren-like alert to be sent to mobile phone users all over the UK as part of a new life-saving warning system will have its first test at 3pm local time on April 23, the UK government announced on Thursday.

Following successful pilots of the system in East Suffolk and Reading in England, the Cabinet Office said the test of the new Emergency Alerts system will see people all over the country receive a message on the home screen of their mobile phone, along with a sound and vibration for up to 10 seconds. It would be used in life-threatening emergencies such as extreme weather events like wildfires and flooding.

"Put the date in your diaries – at 3pm on 23 April, we’ll be testing our new national Emergency Alerts system," said Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden.

"Getting this system operational with the national test means we have another tool in our toolkit to keep the public safe in life-threatening emergencies. It could be the sound that saves your life," he said.

For the test, the British public are being informed that they would not need to take any action and the sound and vibration will stop automatically after 10 seconds. People would be able to swipe away the message or click OK on their phone's home screen – just like for a "low battery" warning or notification – and continue to use their phone as normal.

"We must use every tool at our disposal to keep people safe, and we need everyone to play their part – and the new Emergency Alerts system is one way we can do this,” Mark Hardingham, Chair of the UK’s National Fire Chiefs Council.

"For 10 seconds, the national test may be inconvenient for some, but please forgive us for the intrusion, because the next time you hear it – your life, and the life-saving actions of our emergency services, could depend on it,” he said.

The government says Emergency Alerts have already been used successfully in a number of other countries, including the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Japan, where it has been widely credited with saving lives during severe weather events.

In the UK, alerts could be used to tell residents of villages being encroached by wildfires, or of severe flooding.