Australia models terror alert on London

Text messages and e-mail alerts will form a key component of an evacuation plan for downtown Sydney in the event of a terrorist attack, the state leader said today.

Under the plan, the managers of about 1,500 building sites across Sydney, Australia’s most populous city, would receive an SMS message on their mobile phone or e-mail alert advising them that a terrorist attack has taken place, the newly elected state Premier Morris Iemma said.

The security alert system, which is broadly modelled on a strategy used during the recent London bombings, will advise the building managers to direct people to three designated evacuation zones throughout the city.

“It is about managing the risk,” Iemma told reporters in Sydney. “I hope that we are all wasting our time in doing this, but we have to be prepared.”