It’s a free and important tool in keeping up to date during emergencies and yet less than half of the region’s population has registered for it.
Manager of Communications for the Cariboo Regional District, Emily Epp said that’s why in partnership with 100 Mile House, Wells, Quesnel, and Williams Lake, they are hosting a sign up week to encourage people to sign up, log in to their profile to ensure it’s up to date, and encourage their friends and family members to sign up.
“The Cariboo Chilcotin Emergency Notification System is a really important tool that the CRD and the local governments in the Cariboo use to inform people about emergency updates, things like evacuation orders and alerts, boil water notices,” she said.
“We actually have about 25 percent of the region’s population signed up already, but of course our goal is to have 100 percent of people signed up and receiving these critical emergency updates.”
Sign up week for the Cariboo Chilcotin Emergency Notification System runs May 13-17 and Epp said information throughout the week will be available.
“This is our first time doing a dedicated signup week to encourage people to register,” Epp said.
“But of course people can sign up anytime online or give us a call and we’ll help them throughout the year, but we thought having a dedicated week would bring it to people’s attention.”
Residents can register to receive these updates through different contact methods including:
- Home phone
- Business phone
- Cell phone
- Text message
The national Alert Ready system is currently only used for tsunami warnings in B.C. and is used in addition to local alerting systems like the Cariboo Chilcotin Emergency Notification System.
(Editor’s Note: Listen to Emily Epp, CRD Manager of Communications in the audio file below)
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