Senator Humphries is letting us know that he’s had the answers back to the Questions On Notice he asked the Attorney-General on why the Emergency Alert system failed during the Mitchell Fire emergency.
In response to questions on notice asked by Senator Humphries, the Attorney-General has put it in terms clear as day:
The Emergency Alert technology did not fail; the system was not used in accordance with the Recommended Use Guidelines.
The response also says that the ACT Government operators clearly exceeded the design of the system:
The campaign expired in 30 minutes because the ACT operator did not extend the validity time for the operation of the campaign, in accordance with the landline call volume and system design parameters. The failure to do so meant that there was only sufficient time for a third of the landlines to be dialled.
The 86,801 landlines in the warning polygon drawn by the ACT operator exceeded Emergency Alert’s recommended limit of 50,000 calls for a single campaign (as per the Recommended Use Guide) by approximately 73%.
The response also notes that the ACT did not attend training workshops run by the Victorian operators of the system in 2010 and 2011.
[Photo by Thisisaname]