Residents in Nanaimo, Parksville and Qualicum Beach can sign onto a new alert system that will advise them of emergencies, city notices and road closures. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

EMERGENCY ALERTS

Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum Beach debut new emergency alert system

Nov 5, 2019 | 3:15 AM

NANAIMO — Residents on central Vancouver Island now have new avenues of communication available to them in the event of emergency.

The municipalities of Nanaimo, Parksville and Qualicum Beach have signed on with Voyent Alert!, an alert subscription service designed to mass communicate with residents, businesses and visitors.

The move to a new system for Nanaimo was spurred by feedback City emergency program coordinator Karen Lindsay heard during a windstorm in December 2018.

“We saw that 60 to 70 per cent of people in our database did not receive the information,” Lindsay said. “We couldn’t connect with them, they were wrong numbers or for whatever reason they didn’t receive the message.”

Switching to a new system will allow the City to refresh their database and add extra lines of communication.

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“Our previous system didn’t have the ability to text, so that’s an upgrade as part of this new system,” Lindsay said.

City of Parksville communications manager Deb Tardiff told NanaimoNewsNOW the service allows officials to deliver a variety of messaging.

“We plan on using it for critical events, emergency events…but we will also be using it in a limited way to communicate less urgent events such as road closures or water advisories.”

Tardiff said the notifications can be tailored for residents in specific areas.

“They also have the opportunity to have multiple locations, so if I live in Nanaimo and work in Parksville, you can get alerts in different locations,” Tardiff said.

Secondary locations could include schools, workplaces or family members’ addresses.

The alerts are available through a downloaded app, as well as email, SMS text or voicemail to a landline.

Residents can sign up through the app, or their local government’s website.

The service also features an opt-out function, allowing residents to ensure the alerts they receive are relevent to them.

“If I live in Parksville, I may not want road closures in Qualicum Beach, however everyone will receive an emergency alert during things like floods or interface fires,” Tardiff said.

The City of Nanaimo will deliver a final message on their existing system on Nov. 21, encouraging residents to sign up for Voyent Alert!

Residents in Parksville and Qualicum have the opportunity to sign up for the free app in person at a pair of mid-November events.

alex.rawnsley@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley