Lessons of 2021 ignored as widespread confusion over technology and protocols remain
VICTORIA, B.C.: As ongoing flooding continues to devastate communities across British Columbia (many of which remain under local states of emergency), the NDP government has still not deployed the province’s emergency text alert system that has been in place for years.
With flood waters encroaching, thousands of residents only became aware of evacuation orders and risks to person and property via social media or messages from friends and family. For some residents in communities close to the US border, air sirens heard from Washington state offered the only warning of the imminent danger.
BC’s longstanding wireless public alerting system “Alert Ready” is designed to provide immediate, location-based texts during rapidly evolving disasters. Yet over the past week, residents in impacted areas received nothing, in spite of the fact that similar confusion and deafening silence also left residents without assistance during the flooding disaster of 2021.
The government is further disadvantaged by protocol that dictates that such text alerts cannot go out without a specific request from local authorities. However, elected officials from several municipalities have publicly stated they are not even aware of this requirement. In the case of the hardest areas of Abbotsford and Sumas, the NDP government has publicly stated that they received no formal requests from the municipalities.
There is absolutely no excuse for leaving British Columbians in peril with such technology readily available, contends Official Opposition Critic for Emergency Management Sheldon Clare.
“This past week’s floods have been so rapid and powerful that lives are literally on the line, making the government’s inaction without reason or justification,” says Clare. “To then follow up such negligence by hiding behind a political blame game against municipal officials, is beyond egregious.”
Abbotsford and Sumas residents are angry and baffled by the government continuing to push a website instead of immediate text alerts for critical information, according to Abbotsford South MLA Bruce Banman.
“When communities are under a state of emergency and sometimes caught with only minutes to evacuate, people should not be guessing whether they’re in danger, or how to respond,” says Banman. “Families need clear, immediate direction from the Province, especially when roads are closing and livestock need to be moved quickly. The alert system exists for exactly these moments, and the government’s baffling reluctance to use it is putting people at risk.”
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Media Contact:
Ryan Painter
Communications
Ryan.Painter@leg.bc.ca
