City of Calgary calling Alberta Emergency Alert system test a success
Posted May 9, 2018 7:22 pm.
Last Updated May 9, 2018 7:27 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Cellphones across Alberta lit up with an emergency alert system test on Tuesday, but not everyone got the message.
Calgary Emergency Management Agency Chief Tom Sampson said roughly 50 per cent of Albertans received it.
“I had expected the number would have been higher, but I still say it’s a success because this is an opportunity to figure out whether the system is working or not, why some phones connected, why some phones didn’t.”
Sampson adds those who didn’t get the message — but have the Alberta Emergency Alert app downloaded on their phone — did receive the message.
He believes it will be up to the CRTC to figure out what happened.
“I think it creates a conversation on a more global level for CRTC to go back to providers and say, so what happened and how are you working through that?,” Sampson said. “I know there will be a litany of individual questions, but I think if we all pepper our providers now, that’s probably not a good thing for the providers. They need a little bit of time to figure out what happened, why it happened that way.”
He thinks there is also an opportunity to create a neighbourhood system, so if anyone in the community did not get an alert, people can check in with each other to ensure everyone gets the potentially life-saving information.
