Province Closer to Emergency Alerting System, Faster Information

Nova Scotians are closer to a provincial emergency alerting system that will help get critical safety information to the public faster.

New equipment will allow emergency officials to send urgent public safety alerts directly to air on radio stations across the province.

"This new system will save time when seconds count," said Ramona Jennex, Minister of Emergency Management. "It will enable emergency officials to send critical public safety information directly to broadcasters and, in the most urgent situations, directly to air.

"The sooner the public has the information they need in a crisis the faster they can take action to protect themselves and their loved ones."

Nova Scotia is the second province to supply automatic-broadcasting equipment to all radio stations. Funding will come from the existing departmental budget for the Emergency Management Office.

"We believe that all Nova Scotians, regardless of where they live, should have equal access to emergency information," said Ms. Jennex. "Cost of the equipment will not be an obstacle to safety."

Two stations, CJLS The Wave in Yarmouth and C101.5 The Hawk in Port Hawkesbury, are participating in a trial of the new system in co-operation with Trispec Communications, which has provided test equipment and has participated in testing.

"We are very excited about this project," said Chris Perry, CJLS owner. "We are committed to providing our listeners with the information they need to stay safe and up-to-date. We had the opportunity to test this equipment and we think it will be an important enhancement to the things we already do to get emergency information to our listeners."

EMO is working with broadcasters to implement a Nova Scotia emergency alerting system this year and to finalize details such as what direct-to-air emergency alerts will sound like.

The Canadian Radio and Television Commission has said participation in the distribution of urgent public safety alerts by broadcasters is voluntary, but participation by all Nova Scotia radio broadcasters is expected.

In 2009, the CRTC approved the creation of the National Alerting Aggregation and Dissemination Service (NAADS), often called a public or emergency alerting system. The backbone of the system was built and is operated by Pelmorex Communications Inc., which owns The Weather Network.

A tender for automatic-broadcasting equipment for radio is being issued today, Jan. 11.