Pollyana

State Governments use a system called Emergency Alert.
You can't unsubscribe from this, nor do you have to subscribe to get the alerts.
Each State has a selection of users who can send the alerts -in Queensland its the State Disaster Cordination Cente Watch Desk at Fire & Emergency Services
When an alert is requested by senior officers a map is drawn of the affected area, this is then submitted to the telecom companies via Telstra and a SMS is sent to all mobile active in that area, with a spoken alert to all landlines with blling addresses in the area. Queensland have used it for flood, cyclone and storm tide, not yet for fire or storms -partly because we have to map the area and get approval before sending and the whole process takes around 30 minutes to get the messages out -for storms thats not quick enough.

When it gets sent EVERYONE in the area should get it, you can't opt in or out. And to allay privacy concerns, the sender doesn't see names/addresses, we only see a total figure of how many mobiles/landlines are called/texted and how many messages get through.

Emergency Alert. Be Warned. Be Informed.

Not sure if ACT use it for hailstorms, they may have other systems as well

Alfresco

29 degrees and 50%and sunny. Perfect.

paulry

I receive quite a few SMS-es from the ACT Government. Especially from my sons former school. I hear the ACT has loads of other uses for SMS planned.

Pollyana

And these are non-opt in or out? Interesting......as I know the rules that surround our use of the database holding both mobile and landline numbers. To do an Emergency Alert message that goes to everyone wes till have to log every use of the database, even though we cannot access either names or numbers, nor can we choose networks, it goes to everyone.
I'll have a chat with our project leaders next week, be interesting if ACT are using it for hail storms -though I guess warning the whole ACT would be a lot easier than warning even half of Queensland Wonder what the numbers are for ACT? Last time we looked at warning an area of Qld for andam release, for instance, it was only around 500 mobiles and 20 landlines

Kim67

27 and a nice little patter of rain in Brissy tonight.

paulry

I dont recall having the choice. For my sons former college we received SMS-es any time he skipped class and reminders for parents evenings, etc. The ACT population is about half a million people over an area approximately 10kms wide by 30kms long. I've got a document somewhere that has loads of population-related stats. If I can find it I'll send it to you. Alternatively you could take a look in the data catalogue section at https://www.data.act.gov.au/. I'm a huge fan of open data.

Pollyana

Just interested to know if ACT has their own system -we certainly haven't heard of Emergency Alert itself being used for hailstorms, but thats not to say it hasn't been.
The data used by this system isconfidential as it makes up,the databases of phone numbers, addresses and the info on who has what phone provider. We can't have access to the data directly as its "commercial in confidence" data and could involve huge risks for Telstra and other companies from a financial and marketing point of view. We don't need names etc anyway, telstra route the calls, all we need is a total figure.

Bello

17 degrees and a bit of cloud in hobart

Pollyana

from Tassie!
Hit 21 at Port Arthur, gorgeous sunshine and not too hot for walking along the beach
Hobart tomorrow.......

Alfresco

Sounds about perfect for you. Enjoy.

Pollyana

Heavenly

Buzzy--Bee

Going to be 39 degrees today.

Aircon, then beach this evening.

BB

astera

Lovely 31 degrees expected today in Surfers Paradise. Another day of eating outside and hitting the beach and pool.

Temps seem quite stable here, which is a lot different from what I often see on Sydney/Melbourne forecasts. 41 in Melbourne today... and 19 tomorrow? Amazing how it can go from "way too hot" to "way too cold" just like that.

Good average temp, too bad it's just a useless statistic though...

Pollyana

Hobart today, 32.2 and still climbing, tomorrow back down to 21- perfect. you can't enjoy hiking and exploring in heat like that, even with low humidity, so today is the day to cruise the river and then wander through the waterfront pubs. Tomorrow its back to normal, wandering around and exploring
I don't mind the odd day of it, what I can't take is the constant 30+ that Brisbane can get for days on end.

paulry

It is a ton today here in Canberra!