BoP Civil Defence to test system

12 September 2016

This Thursday 15th September at 10am a Civil Defence test alert will be issued via text messaging. This test alert is to test the text system only, therefore will only be received via text.

During the recent Tsunami threat forty-two queries were received from people who had registered and did not receive a text alert from BOP Civil Defence . A subsequent investigation identified that the system upgrade recently undertaken by our service provider had not captured all registered numbers as expected.

Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Group Controller Clinton Naude said that he had received confirmation there was a technical failure by the service provider and a formal apology from the company responsible. ‘Our service provider has confirmed both how this occurred and the steps now implemented within their organisation to ensure it does not re-occur. As text alerting is one of the methods we use to alert people we are testing the system this week to provide confidence that the recent issues have been addressed’
What: Public test of Bay of Plenty Civil Defence txt alerting system
When: Thursday 15th September 2016 at 10am.

Please provide us with feedback on this text test. You can do this by:
replying to the text you receive from 2028 with ‘Yes’ (which will cost you 20c) or
emailing your mobile number and if you received it or not to info@boprc.govt.nz
There is not a national warning system and mobile service providers within NZ do not offer the ability to automate public messaging. Bay of Plenty Civil defence alerts are only despatched to people who have registered for this service, and maintained their contact details – this includes updating your details if you have changed your service provider. We encourage everyone within to register and this can be done through www.bopcivildefence.govt.nz
Mr Naude congratulated people of the Bay for their early recognition of the natural warning signs, and media for their timely distribution of information.

Mr Naude said “Text messaging is one of many methods used to distribute information in an emergency situation, and in the recent Tsunami threat, the message was well distributed through local media despite the issues caused by the txt alerting service provider.”

ENDS

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