B.C. tests emergency alert system ahead of new LTE messaging capabilities

B.C. tested its emergency alert systemacross the province Wednesday afternoon.

The alarm tone played on TVs and radiosat 1:55 p.m. PT.

Click below to hear the sound:

Wireless cellphone alerts were not tested Wednesday. Those tests are scheduled to begin May 9.

Emergency Management B.C. said the test is part of the national AlertReady system, which allows governments to issue public safety alerts through major broadcasters.

The B.C. Emergency Alerting System is used during emergencies or large-scale disasters that put lives at risk, including fires, floods, earthquakes, found explosives, terrorist attacks and civil emergencies. Tofinohas startedtesting its tsunami warning system more oftenafter a scare on the B.C. coast in January.

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In the past, the districttested its warning system twice a year but it's uppedthat to monthly drills after a powerful earthquake off the coast of Alaskaprompted a real tsunami warning on Jan. 23.

Smartphone alerts coming in April

While Wednesday's test was limited to radio and TV, new smartphone alert capabilities will be available through the AlertReady system beginning April 6, as per a mandate from the CRTC.

The mandate requires all cellphone providers to allow the sending and receiving of emergency alerts on their networks and devices via LTE messaging technology similar to traditional SMS text messaging, but using LTE data networks instead of standard telephony networks.

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LTE messaging is much faster and more efficient than SMS messaging, but it only works on newer devices capable of receiving it, and only over LTE networks, which tend to only be available in urban areas.

Martin Belanger director of public alerting at Pelmorex, the company that built and operates the AlertReady infrastructure says about 60 per cent of mobile phones in Canada are capable of receiving such alerts.

He said phones that receive an emergency alert would display a text message with details about the alert, accompanied with the tone heard on TV and radio.

"The authorities will use the system to create the alert, and as soon as it's created, we send it to all media," Belanger said.

"As long as you have your devices on, you will receive the alert."