This week saw a terror attack at Westminster bridge, the first attack in London since Somali-born Muhiddin Mire, launched a knife attack at Leytonstone tube station. The terror threat remains at ‘Severe’ meaning an attack is highly likely.

With Security services successfully disrupting 12 attacks in the last 12 months, the move towards the ‘lone wolf’ low complexity attack tactics continue, whilst UK emergency and security services continue to train and work to prevent a mass casualty attack.

So what can you do? It is important to not let terrorism create fear, restrict or negatively impact your life. There are a number of ways to reduce your chances of being in the wrong place and it is also important to educate yourself on how to detect a potential attack and how to react should you get caught in one.

Know where you’re going, both domestically and overseas, the UK government website has advice regarding travelling to foreign countries, https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice Maps like the below can also be useful to check terror threat levels.

Terror attacks are designed to create fear and in order to do this they are likely to strike the civilian populous, makes sense they would want to target densely populated areas with lower levels of security.

We’ve seen attacks on busy market places, shopping centres, concerts and tube stations. All areas of high footfall and harder to secure. Take note of anniversaries too, whether of attacks or key events. Attacks may be planned to commemorate these dates.

Learn and train. There is now a free app from citizenAID designed to give you information and training on how to prepare for and react to a terrorist attack. Open up the app once downloaded and move step by step through the app to find out how to react to events such as seeing a suspicious package through to treating a major bleed in an emergency.