With the Province conducting a test of its wireless Alert Ready system on Wednesday, the Regional District of East Kootenay has reminded residents that it cannot be used for local emergencies at this time.
Since the system cannot be used to alert the public of local emergencies such as fires and floods at this time, the RDEK said its regional Evacuation Notification System will ensure that citizens receive emergency notifications.
“We want people to be aware of the limitations of the Alert Ready program in BC, which currently is only used for tsunami warnings, Amber Alerts and specific civil police emergencies,” explained Loree Duczek, RDEK Communications Manager. “We have long been advocating for a system that will push emergency messages out to mobile devices, but at this time this system cannot do that.”
The RDEK said it is concerned that the emergency notification sent out across B.C. may create some false expectations that the public will will be notified for all emergencies.
“While local governments such as the RDEK hope to one day be able to access the system, we want to stress to residents that they will not be receiving text messages about local emergencies through the Alert Ready system at this time, which is why we are urging residents to sign up for the local notification system,” said Duczek.
After users register at least one property location, the East Kootenay Evacuation Notification System sends alerts regarding evacuation alerts or orders to cellphones and landlines as well as a dedicated app.
“We strongly support having the Alert Ready system and its ability to automatically push emergency notifications to any smartphone within a defined geographic area and hope to see the Province expand the system’s scope to include other critical emergency-related messages,” said Duczek. “In the meantime, we have a robust local option and urge all residents and property owners to register today.”
Registration for the notification system can be done online.
More: RDEK Emergency notification system (RDEK)