Testing, testing – are you signed up for emergency messages?

Campbell River, BC – Emergency notification systems will be tested at the end of the month, and it’s time to make sure you’re signed up to receive emergency messages.

“The Strathcona Regional District is reminding people to make sure you and your loved ones are as safe as possible in an emergency by signing up for early notification. This will help you know what to do and where to go in the event of a disaster,” says Shaun Koopman, protective services coordinator. “Local governments and emergency responders have systems in place to inform the community when disaster strikes, and to make sure people know how best to react. The best thing people can do ahead of time is prepare, with supplies, plans and by signing up for emergency notification.”

Connect Rocket is the emergency mass notification system used by the Strathcona Regional District. Voice messages are sent to landlines, voice and text messages to mobile devices within a cell coverage area.

“Provided that there is access to the Internet, we would use this service to notify residents within the different communities of the Strathcona Regional District,” Koopman says. “When we test the system, or use it in the event of a real emergency, residents will receive a text message, landline voice message, and cell phone voice message for notifications.”

Koopman urges people living within the Strathcona Regional District to save the Connect Rocket community number (778-762-3201) in mobile devices – under a such as Emergency Notifications.

Testing schedule for Connect Rocket on Thursday January 31st, 2019. Note: if you have only signed up to receive notifications for only one area, you will receive only one message. If you have signed up for every list, then you will receive 17 notifications throughout the day.

Time	Notification List	Time	Notification List
10:00am	City of Campbell River	12:15pm	Village of Zeballos
10:15am	Area B – Cortes Island	12:30pm	Village of Gold River
10:30am	Area D – Oyster Bay / Buttle Lake	12:45pm	Area C – Quadra Island
10:45am	Campbell River Floodplain	1:00pm	Area C – East Redonda Island
11:00am	West Coast Tsunami Warnings	1:15pm	Area C – Maurelle Island
11:15am	Area A – Sayward Valley	1:30pm	Area C – Read Island
11:30am	Village of Tahsis	1:45pm	Area C – Sonora Island
11:45am	Village of Sayward	2:00pm	Area C – West Redonda Island
12:00pm	Oyster River Floodplain

Residents and visitors can sign up and manage their contact details at the Strathcona Regional District’s Connect Rocket web page https://strathconard.connectrocket.com/.

Alert Ready is a Canada-wide program that allows Emergency Management Operations in each province and territory to issue emergency alerts. These are sent to all mobile devices in an area (no signup required) and are not initiated by local governments.

To receive Alert Ready emergency alerts, a wireless device must be:
– a smartphone able to use the LTE (or 4G) network for high-speed wireless communication
– wireless Public Alerting compatible;
– have up-to-date software
– connected to an LTE cellular network at the time the emergency alert is issued and
– within the emergency alert area.

Alert Ready was most recently tested in B.C. on Wednesday November 28th.

Section 2(3)(e) of BC Reg.380/95 (Local Authority Emergency Management Regulation) requires that local authorities establish procedures by which those persons who may be harmed or who may suffer loss are notified of an emergency or impending disaster. This responsibility is recognized by public agencies who rely on the local authorities to be the primary source for public emergency alerts. The Strathcona Region District’s Emergency Program utilizes Connect Rocket to provide mass notifications.

The Strathcona Regional District will give advance notice of the next emergency notification systems test once announced by the Province.

The Strathcona Regional District is a partnership of four electoral areas and five municipalities providing services to approximately 43,000 residents.

-30-

Media contact:
Shaun Koopman
Protective Services Coordinator
skoopman@srd.ca
250-830-6702