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Subscriptions to Nanaimo’s emergency alert system skyrocket after tsunami evacuations

Jan 24, 2018 | 4:40 PM

NANAIMO — It appears this week’s tsunami scare was a wake up call for a lot of mid-island residents.

The City and Regional District of Nanaimo reported a huge surge in the number of people signing up for their emergency notification systems on Tuesday. The influx of subscribers followed evacuations in several Vancouver Island communities due to the possibility of a tsunami from a powerful earthquake south of Alaska.

Karen Lindsay, the City of Nanaimo’s emergency program manager, said their system was actually knocked offline briefly due to the increase in traffic.

“Ideally, we’d like to see every resident that is able sign up for this call alert system. We’ve never seen a surge like that, so obviously people were thinking ‘Jeeze, how would I get notified if there was an emergency in the community?’” Lindsay told NanaimoNewsNOW.

She said a little more than 1,000 people signed up for the City’s emergency call alert system on Tuesday alone, compared to 164 in all of 2017.

Meanwhile, the RDN reported 1,935 new subscribers on Tuesday, more than doubling their previous total. The number was still climbing hourly as of Wednesday afternoon.

Lindsay said one important lesson which came from Tuesday’s scare was to remind people not to call 911 to get information.

“Use some of the different mediums that are out there, like social media, websites, signing up for the call alerts. Those are the types of things that will keep you informed if there is an emergency in the community,” she said, adding the City would push out information immediately through their channels and local radio stations during a real situation.

Tuesday’s scare was ultimately positive, Lindsay said, because it put the need to be prepared top of mind for people. Based on her conversations, she said it seems the bulk of Nanaimo residents do not have emergency kits or plans.

“I don’t think we’re very well prepared at all as a community. I think there are some people that take it very seriously…But I think everybody needs to take part.”

By signing up for the City’s notification system, you will receive an email and phone call describing the nature of the situation and instructions to follow. The RDN’s system sends out phone calls and text messages.

B.C. Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth said the province will review how information was released and how it was received, as people in some communities complained about a lack of clear communication.

You can sign up to get notifications for Nanaimo here and the RDN here.

 

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi