WA has moved to EMERGENCY ALERT
Western Australia has moved to a national system that will better deliver messages directly to your mobile or landline telephone during emergencies.
Emergency Alert is a free phone messaging service that sends voice and text warnings to your phone during an emergency when lives may be in danger in your neighbourhood or where you are located.
Since November 30 2012, Emergency Alert has replaced StateAlert as the system used by WA authorities, such as DFES and WA Police, to send you messages during emergencies including fire, cyclone, chemical spills and tsunami.
While the new system uses state of the art technology, you will not receive an Emergency Alert in all circumstances. You need to be aware of your surroundings and actively look for information from different sources during an emergency. If your safety is threatened, then take immediate action to protect yourself and your family, even without a warning.
How you receive emergency messages through Emergency Alert will be similar to StateAlert, but the new system offers greater flexibility and improvement. For example:
- Emergency Alert has the capacity and capability to send more messages to more people.
- Households and mobile phones closer to the threat can be made the priority and targeted first with Emergency Alerts.
- People who are travelling through an area under threat may be sent text messages on their mobile phones using Emergency Alert’s world first location based technology.
- Under the Emergency Alert system, messages advising of imminent threats are sent to landline telephones based on the location of the handset, and to mobile phones, based on the service address or current location.
Under the Emergency Alert system, messages advising of imminent threats are sent to landline telephones based on the location of the handset, and to mobile phones, based on the service address or current location.
In the case of an emergency, you may receive a voice message on your landline or a text message on your mobile phone. If you receive an Emergency Alert and want more information, follow the instructions in the message or visit the DFES website. For more information on Emergency Alert read the Frequently Asked Questions or visit http://www.emergencyalert.gov.au.