Coinciding with an Alaska earthquake that briefly had the coast on the edge of tsunami worries, and the day a wildfire was tamed in Sooke, the Capital Regional District announced its new online emergency dashboard July 16.
The dashboard collates regional emergency information from local, provincial and federal partners, highlighting current emergency alerts and preparedness resources.
“As a region with diverse geography, varying weather conditions and many risks, we have developed a new awareness tool with our regional partners that consolidates public safety information from credible sources to help communities prepare for and respond to disasters and other challenges quickly. The emergency dashboard can be used before, during and after an emergency as a timely source of important information,” said Shawn Carby, senior manager of protective services.
The dashboard monitors and displays emerging threats and current situations, such as extreme weather warnings, localized emergency alerts, wildfires, air quality warnings, tsunami and seismic events, road closures and more at emergency.crd.ca.
The CRD, which covers 13 municipalities and three electoral areas on southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, provides this emergency information system in coordination with local emergency programs to strengthen the capacity to manage an event and to raise public awareness.
Residents are also encouraged to sign up for local alert systems in their specific community, found online at www.prepareyourself.ca/get-connected/how-stay-informed.
