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Queen Charlotte to test tsunami siren

Emergency notification system capabilities to be explored
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The village of Queen Charlotte will sound its tsunami siren for three minutes on Oct. 21 as part of the BC Shakeout program. (File photo)

The Village of Queen Charlotte will be testing its tsunami siren and ePACT system at 10:21, on Oct. 21, as part of the Great British Columbia Shake Out to increase awareness of emergency procedures.

The siren will sound for three minutes and will be tested for its effectiveness in the high winds.

The village will be conducting the test with a storm warning in effect where the community can expect gusts up to 92 km/h.

“The winds are gusting so hard right now we’re thinking that the sound is going to be thrown by the wind, and there may be some areas where it’s not heard,” Mary Kellie, interim operations manager, told The HaidaGwaii Observer.

The municipality currently has one tsunami siren located in the centre of town by the government docks.

“We have been trying to find funding to put two more sirens in at each end of town to get full coverage, and this is part of our exercise today. We have people in different areas of town that will phone us and tell us if they did or did not hear the siren,” Kellie said.

The town is “long and linear,” and the village would like to install an additional siren on each end of town to ensure everyone in the community can hear them if they go off.

An essential part of the testing today is the ePACT system.

ePACT is an online emergency network used to send out alerts and news updates by telephone, text, or email to registered contacts in communities in Haida Gwaii.

The village will test its administrative function’s capability to use ePACT so they can use it for other emergencies, in the future, such as mudslides.


 Norman Galimski | Journalist 
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