Overview of Does Australia Have an Emergency Alert System?

Emergency alert is an essential tool to notify many people in case they are in danger. The alert comes in sound, voice, or other types to ensure people avoid certain areas and find a better place to protect themselves. Since no place is perfectly safe, does Australia have an emergency alert system?

The Overview of Does Australia Have an Emergency Alert System

National Alert System in Australia

The emergency alert system in Australia does exist. The government designed this system to alert the public when danger is around in a certain area. This is the right of the public to get official information. So, the alert system is handled by the government to alert people in many types of delivery methods.

Delivery Methods of Alert System

People will get notifications in several methods, depending on the availability of the tools. The most common method is broadcasting on radio and television. It reaches many audiences that may not have a network. However, this may not be efficient in time because people might not watch the TV and listen to the radio at that time.

They also send messages through an SMS because the local authorities have the phone number of the people in the specific area. Most people now have a handphone as their basic communication device. It reaches faster, yet the challenge is still the people who do not use a certain provider or do not have a communication network.

Therefore, does Australia have an emergency alert system that is more reliable? The answer is yes. Australia can send the message in another method. It is a cell broadcast which is in the form of a pop-up message. It does not need a network to make it work, only an SMS broadcaster in the system to send the message.

Alert Levels in Emergency System

Australia made three levels according to the severity of the case. The mild one will not tell people to evacuate. Meanwhile, the most destructive case will order people to follow the instructions in the message. The levels consist of:

·         Watch and Act: This warning is issued when the disaster or threats are mild. They will not affect their lives a lot, but it is important for people to be aware of this. The instructions are to follow up and stay updated about the event in case it gets worse.

·         Prepare to evacuate: This level warns people that evacuation might be needed. In this stage, people should be ready with their items to get evacuated. Another message may arrive to notify about the evacuation route and other additional information about it.

·         Warning: At this level, people should follow the guidelines to evacuate as soon as possible. It means the severity of the event is high and may risk many things, including people’s lives. People do not have much time to secure themselves in a safer place.

Targeted Notifications

Does Australia have an emergency alert system with specific location features? Australia has this feature to improve their system. Only people who live in the affected area will get the message on their phone. It decreases the panic for people who are not around the threats.

People also do not have to set their location. The emergency alert system in Australia recognizes the location immediately. People will get the message as a pop-up message. The alert itself will be issued from different agencies that are related to the incidents happening in the area.

Types of Alerts

In Australia, there are many incidents that will trigger the emergency alert to ring. The priority is the alert during bushfires. The bushfire is likely to happen in Australia during the dry season. Dry vegetation in Australia can ignite the fire rapidly and it is very hard to control after it spreads wildly.

Other alerts are earthquake and tsunami. Some areas in Australia's coastline are in the Ring of Fire. It can trigger a big earthquake and tsunami. The alerts also work for other types such as floods, hazardous material incidents, and severe storms in all regions in Australia.

With the huge role of does Australia have an emergency alert system overview above, the government should choose the best device to use to send the messages. The SMS Broadcaster device is an essential part to improve the efficiency in the alert system. Find out more about this device here.