Feds working to iron out kinks in public alert system
OTTAWA — Officials behind the country’s system to alert mobile devices about impending natural disasters say there are still several kinks in the system to iron out, even as the alerts are being credited with saving lives just last week.
Mobile alerts went out across the National Capital Region on Friday as a storm slammed into the region and unleashed what Environment Canada now says were six tornadoes — three each in Ottawa and Gatineau, Que.
About 100 alerts have been issued across the country since April 6, when wireless warnings were added to the traditional television and radio messages broadcast by the National Public Alerting System, said Scott Shortliffe of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.
Yet while many of those alerts have been successful, Shortliffe said in an interview that issues remain, including that only cellphones and wireless devices connected to an LTE network can receive the messages.