Thursday, March 28, 2024

Here’s how to get emergency alerts on your phone in Victoria

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Last night, at about 2 AM, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Alaska triggered a tsunami warning for Vancouver Island and British Columbia.

While some Victorians did get the alert and evacuated to higher altitudes (like Mount Doug, Mount Tolmie, and even Mount Washington), most people slept through the mayhem.

Luckily, no giant waves tarnished the lives of Vancouver Islanders this time, but we want to make sure that everyone is as prepared as they can be for the next impending natural disaster.

So here are a few ways you can get emergency alerts on your phone (and other devices) to be fully calamity-ready. And if you don’t have an emergency kit yet, keep reading to find out how you can get one from GetMyKit at a 20% discount!

1. Vic-Alert

Residents of the city of Victoria – and other municipalities, too – can sign up for this free service set up by the local government which sends you alerts via phone, text, or email. You’ll be able to get emergency alerts about threats like severe weather, power outages, tsunami, etc., AMBER alerts, and local incidents such as gas-leaks/evacuations. They can only send you these alerts on your private devices if you subscribe to the service, so click here to sign up today!

2. Town of Sidney Emergency Notification System

Although Vic-Alert provides information to residents of Victoria, people living in or closer to Sidney might want to sign up for their emergency notification system. You can choose to receive notification via phone, email, text, or even fax. Subscribe here.

3. Alert Ready

If you’re more old school and don’t like phones or email, you can still get notified of an impending disaster, thanks to Alert Ready. In case of any natural or man-made disaster, an alert tone will ring out on your television or radio, letting you know the nature of the incident and whether or not you should be evacuating. As of April 6th or 8th, these alerts will also be sent to mobile phones automatically.

4. QuakeFeed (for iPhone users)

This app is specifically designed to alert all iOS mobile users of any earthquakes (and warnings) happening around the world. It’s fully social media integrated, so you can share earthquake alerts near you to people on your Facebook/Twitter/Instagram right away. The app is free (unless you decide to pay for the ad-free version).

5. Be Ready app (for iPhone and Android users)

This mobile app is designed by the Canadian Red Cross to keep Canadians informed about any and all emergencies happening around them. It also provides information on emergency-preparedness and in-app information is available even without an internet connection.

7. Emergency Info BC (Twitter)

For the avid social media addict, don’t forget to follow @EmergencyInfoBC on Twitter for constant updates on emergencies (natural or man-made) in B.C. They keep their tweets short but informative, and will tell you whether or not you need to run for the hills.

6. CWarn Tsunami Early Warning System

This website provides free emergency texts to subscribers, informing them about tsunami, earthquake, cyclone, flood, volcano, etc. warnings from all around the world. So never miss a message from mother nature when you’re travelling, or want to check up on loved ones overseas.

Victoria Buzz scored you a 20% discount on your Emergency Kit

Last night was quite a scare for most Vancouver Islanders, and if you don’t have an emergency kit yet, now is the time to go out and get one.

GetMyKit offers a range of survival packages from their Basic 1-person kit at $148, to a Deluxe 4-person kit at $398. They’ve even got emergency kits specifically tailored for pets, and vehicle survival.

In case of evacuation, you don’t want to have to scramble to get everything together – each emergency kit contains survival tools like food and water rations, flashlights, S.O.S. flags, whistles, gloves, and much more.

Use the code “Save20” to get 20% off on your GetMyKit emergency kit today – only valid til midnight on Wednesday, January 24th. 

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Brishti Basu
Former Senior Staff Writer and Content Manager at Victoria Buzz.

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