Vicdeaf -
Emergency alert telephone warning system is ready
16 December 2009
Following extensive community testing in Victoria, the new national telephone-based warning system for life-threatening emergencies – Emergency Alert – is live and ready for use.Emergency Alert will alert communities to emergencies via a recorded voice message on landline telephones and a text message on mobiles, based on the subscribers’ billing address.
The warning messages will provide official and authorised emergency information on the current situation and provide direction to the community on actions to be taken and where further information or advice can be sought.
Emergency Alert provides emergency services with another useful tool to issue warnings, but it is crucial that communities do not rely on receiving a telephone warning and have an emergency plan.
At this stage TTY phones will not receive warnings as the primary data source for the Emergency Alert system, the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND) does not capture information about which telephone numbers are linked to a teletypewriter. However, the project team is working through the provision of these warnings with the Australian Communication Exchange and other relevant government bodies. Further information will be provided in the near future.
Further information about the Emergency Alert system can be found on the website www.emergencyalert.gov.au
You are welcome to contact David Peters at Vicdeaf if you wish to find out more about Emergency Alert. He will be happy to discuss with you. David’s email address is dpeters@vicdeaf.com.au
