[sbe-eas] Canada: B.C.now learning the public alert lessons previously learned by others

[Sean Donelan]

The Canadian province of British Columbia is experincing disasterous 
flooding across the province.  Several rivers have burst their banks and 
broken dams. Natural gas lines have been damaged, and temperatures are 
dropping below freezing. Prayers and hope for the safety of everyone 
impacted in British Columbia.


As happened during the California wildfires, the British Columbia 
provincial government says public alerting is a "local matter." Government 
officials declined to use the Canandian Alert Ready public warning system 
because of "fears it would cause widespread panic."

Does this sound familar?


Alert Ready is the the Canadian version of IPAWS, EAS and WEA.  Alert 
systemson US and Canadian cell phones are interoperable (but not 
identical).  Canada uses the "mandatory" (in the US, equivalent of the 
"presidential") alert for ALL alerts.  And the public has complained 
about the inability to opt-out of alerts.


According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), British Columbia 
is the only proviance in Canada which has not used Alert Ready since it 
became available in 2016.

Instead a local mayor recorded a public alert message on YouTube. Rescue 
workers went door-to-door to alert close to 300 people, who were able to 
leave safely.  Again, does this sound familar to the flash flooding in San 
Jose California a few years ago?



https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/province-feeling-heat-for-not-using-emergency-alert-system
Province feeling heat for not using emergency alert system

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth has promised to deploy the Alert 
Ready system, but not until next year.



Least, Americans become too smug.  The U.S. could learn a lot of 
public alerting lessons from Japan and South Korea.  Its better to learn 
the lessons from others, than to make the same mistakes yourself.