Will i get the uk emergency alert in france? Is there a french system?

SEVERAL COUNTRIES HAVE BEGUN SENDING OUT SMARTPHONE ALERTS TO WARN PEOPLE ABOUT EMERGENCIES SUCH AS FLOODS, EXTREME WEATHER AND WILDFIRES As the UK government prepares to send out a test

alert to all smartphones this weekend, we look into whether UK citizens living in France will receive it and what the French equivalent system is. WHAT ALERT WILL BE SENT IN THE UK? The

alert will be in the style of a real ‘emergency alert’ and sent on Sunday (April 23) to every smartphone within the range of a UK signal mast. Sent at 15:00 BST (16:00 CEST), it will emit a

loud siren or vibration lasting around 10 seconds. It will work on all 4G and 5G networks in the UK, including those on ‘silent mode’. It will not work for older phones. Nor will it work on

phones turned off or on ‘airplane mode’. However, this alert is just a test and will not require people to take any action. It is a test for the system’s future use, which could be used to

alert people to emergencies such as severe flooding, extreme weather or fire risks. Users can dismiss the alert by swiping away or hitting the ‘OK’ button. WILL THE UK ALERT COME THROUGH TO

UK SMARTPHONES IN FRANCE? _The Connexion_ has confirmed that UK-registered smartphones in France will not receive the alert. A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office of the UK government said:

“The alerts are issued from mobile phone masts so only go to those phones in the local area that will receive the signal. “In the case of the UK-wide test - it will go from all masts in the

UK, but in future, when used in an emergency, it will only be from the masts in an affected area.” DOES FRANCE HAVE A SIMILAR SYSTEM? Yes. A similar system, called FR-Alert, has been

operational in France since last year. It can send messages to a group of people in a certain geographical area, as well as nationwide. It was introduced under an EU obligation for member

states called ‘Reverse 112’ (a reference to the Europe-wide 112 emergency call number). The kinds of events that could lead to the system’s deployment include: * Natural disasters (floods,

storms and cyclones, fires, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) * Biological and chemical accidents (pollution, gas leaks, nuclear incidents) * Health accidents (epidemics, pandemics, agri-food

incidents) * Technological and industrial accidents (breakdown of telecommunication systems, serious accidents on road, rail or air networks, industrial incidents) * A serious public

security event or an act of terrorism. Similar to the UK system, it does not work if the phone is off or on ‘flight mode’. But it does sound an alert even if the phone is on silent. Messages

contain details of the risk, its location, and any behaviour required by people in that area to ensure their protection. No sign-up for the system is necessary, and it will not enable the

state to gather the location information of users. As with the UK system, it works by cell broadcast, not by SMS. This means that it uses radio waves from telecommunication antennas, and is

sent to all phones within a certain radius of the antenna. Phones that are out of the 3G, 4G, or 5G signal will not receive the alert as a result. READ MORE: FLOODS, TERRORIST ATTACKS: NEW

MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM IN FRANCE READ MORE: SIX QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE NEW ALERT SYSTEM COMING TO FRANCE France also has a system in which sirens sound on the first Wednesday of every

month, in a system called the Réseau National d’Alerte. It dates back to World War Two and is intended to warn people in the event of a major incident such as a cloud of toxic gas, a nuclear

accident, or another imminent local catastrophe. The test alarm sounds for a minute at noon on these days. The real alarm sounds for three sequences of one minute and 43 seconds, with a

falling and rising tone, with a five-second gap between them. If you hear the real alarm, the advice is generally to go home and close the doors and windows, and switch on the news on TV or

radio. However, the government is looking into updating the system and increasing awareness of its meaning. READ MORE: THE MONTHLY WARNING SIREN IN FRANCE: WHAT DOES IT MEAN? DO OTHER

COUNTRIES USE A SIMILAR SYSTEM? Yes. Similar alert mobile phone systems are in use in Japan, the US, Canada, and the Netherlands. In Japan, they are typically used to alert people to extreme

weather risks and natural disasters. In the US, messages can be sent directly from the president. However, in 2018, a warning of an incoming missile was mistakenly sent to residents in the

US state of Hawaii, causing panic. RELATED ARTICLES WILL FRANCE’S FR-ALERT WARNING SYSTEM WORK WITH FOREIGN PHONES? SIX QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE NEW ALERT SYSTEM IN FRANCE