Be ready for emergency alerts

As severe weather develops in North Queensland, City of Moreton Bay residents are being urged to ensure they can receive emergency alerts issued by the State Disaster Coordination Centre.

Moreton District Acting Chief Superintendent Adam Guild says the unfolding weather situation elsewhere in the state is a timely reminder of how quickly an emergency can develop at this time of the year.

“We know from last year in the City of Moreton Bay, during January and February, we had two severe weather events that impacted our community locally specifically Samford, Bray Park and Caboolture where we did see some flooding,” Acting Chief Supt Guild says.

He is urging residents to be ready this time around, while considering what is happening in North Queensland.

People are being asked to update their phone settings to ‘favourite’ the Emergency Alert (EA) phone number (+61 444 444 444) and stay informed during an emergency or disaster.

Emergency Alert is the national telephone-based warning system used to send voice messages to landlines and text messages to mobile phones to warn people of emergencies.

People do not need to register to receive an emergency alert, they just need to ensure the phone number +61 444 444 444 is not blocked. The easiest way to do this is to make it a ‘favourite’ in your contacts.

“If there’s an impending disaster that may occur, the local council in consultation with the District Disaster Co-ordinator would consider an emergency alert to be send to a specific location which would then ping every number in that geographical location to warn the public about what was happening,” Acting Chief Supt Guild explains.

“Where there is an imminent risk to life and property, this is when an emergency alert would be considered. (This is) in any type of event, such as a fire, cyclone, flooding … or anything else considered to have a significant impact on a community or imminent risk to life.

“These aren’t used lightly. Emergency alerts basically tell people specific information on what to do at a certain point in time, based on the evidence that’s before us as provided by the Bureau of Meteorology as well as what we’re seeing on the ground.

“If you do block that number, you may be missing out on life-saving information that can assist you and your family.”

There is a risk some people have stopped paying attention to alerts following problems with other warning systems in recent months, but Acting Chief Supt Guild says this is a different mechanism.

“This emergency alert overrides all of those other systems. This one is done through our State Disaster Centre,” he says.

“Obviously, people do become complacent. The message is trying to ensure that people have readily available information to hand so they can protect themselves and their loved ones.”

For assistance with a life-threatening situation, phone Triple Zero (000) immediately.

For assistance with non-life-threatening situations — such as help with a damaged roof or storm damage — phone the SES on 132 500.

For disaster information specific to the City of Moreton Bay, monitor council’s Disaster Dashboard.