You might be wondering where alerts come from that appear in the Alertable app? It’s worthwhile noting that Alertable is more than an app. Alertable is a full public emergency alert system available to municipalities across Canada to notify their communities of disasters and hazards. The public receives those local level alerts through the free to download Alertable app or the online version of Alertable or the Alertable social media feeds on Facebook and Twitter.
People can still download and use the Alertable app even if their local municipality has not yet signed up to the full Alertable alerting service. People will get alerts sent from Canada’s national public alerting system, Alert Ready, which happens to be the same system that is used to send wireless public alerts (WPA). People who have the Alertable app downloaded will be able to get more information when a wireless public alert comes in. And for people who have a phone that is not compatible with wireless public alerts, they can still be alerted of the emergency if they have the app (see our blog How to get emergency alerts on your smartphone if it is not compatible)
Back to the question of where the alerts in Alertable come from? They come from any agency or department authorized to send alerts through Alert Ready such as provincial and territorial emergency management officials, police, Environment and Climate Change Canada for severe weather events, etc. Alerts can also come from any local municipality that has signed up for the Alertable alerting service. The alert information is passed through to the Alertable app unfiltered. The alert name, severity and supporting information are exactly as the issuing authority has entered it. On top of supplying all the information that shows up in the Alertable app, the issuing authority also determines when to send an alert, how often to update it, and when to cancel it.
Take care. Be prepared.