Another Alerting Failure for Ministry of Civil Defence

PRESS RELEASE

Date: 17 November 2016

Issued By: Tsunado New Zealand Limited

Subject: Another Alerting Failure for Ministry of Civil Defence

As with the recent East Cape tsunami, last night's earthquake yet again exposed the major deficiencies in the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management's ability to alert the public in times of disaster.

In this latest case, multiple complaints from Auckland to Dunedin have been received, all highlighting that either texts or tweets sent to them, had failed to alert them. Many individuals did not wake to the texts, and many others found the texts arriving several hours late. Others have complained about the conflicting information being sent by the Ministry and their local Civil Defence organisations.

Following the earthquake event on Monday, we saw again that cellular networks either collapsed, or in areas without power, that cellphones are unable to run after 12 – 24 hours. In a number of locations the earthquake also destroyed the fibre links required for the Cellular systems to operate.

Yet MCDEM's answer is to propose another texting system – this one capable of sending texts to multiple devices at the same time. Not only won't this work (see above) but it will cost the NZ taxpayer $100s of millions to implement – essentially a free gift to the telcos who will then use this equipment to send us all more unsolicited marketing texts (read spam).

And yet the answer is already built and ready to go. Designed in conjunction with three local Civil Defence authorities with funding from the Callaghan Innovation fund, this system was ready for service two years ago.

Audited by the Ministry on behalf of the local authorities the system was rated "very well designed". Tested operationally by local authority Civil Defence staff in Auckland and the BOP, it was given a 100% endorsement as a system to use in Civil Defence emergencies.

At a cost of less than $1 million per year to operate, the system provides a multi channel system using radio and satellite option, which gives 100% coverage of NZ, and uses military grade encryption to protect the messages from hackers.

What is TSUNADO

Is it a Siren? Is it a RADIO?

TSUNADO Alert Radios are a “one in every home” unit, combining a radio and a siren which has the volume of a smoke alarm, a screen to display a short message, and a portable radio to allow householders to receive up to date news and instructions.

TSUNADO is an effective method of alerting and informing the public both before and after a disaster event.

Unlike internet and cellular solutions, it uses Broadcast Radio and Satellite transmissions to deliver the alerts, across the whole country. These have been proven to be extremely reliable in all manner of disasters, unlike the recent issues with text alerts.

Alerts can be targeted to specific regions using a regional code, or a GPS on enhanced versions.

Special interest groups such as emergency services, farmers etc can receive messages just for them.

TSUNADO Alert Radios are normally powered by a standard plug pack, and will operate on battery for 5 to 10 days. They only turn on when there is an alert message.

Social Media Responses post the Kaikoura Earthquake

Sample messages from Social Media referencing the ineffectiveness of texting as a means to deliver emergency alerts:

Background TSUNADO New Zealand Limited, along with it's parent company Disaster Warning Systems Limited (DIWA), are wholly owned New Zealand companies, set up to develop and deploy the patented technology for a secure and effective National Public Alerting System, based on FM Radio and Satellite distribution networks.

DIWA has worked with the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM) and all sixteen Regional Civil Defence Groups over the last five years, and was the recipient of a $255,000.00 matching finance grant from the Callaghan Innovation fund in 2013, to complete the system including a centralised Alert Management System called TSUNADO Central.

WEBSITE: http://www.tsunado.com

REFERENCE DOCUMENTS:

The Three States of Emergency Public Alerting

This Paper considers the three types of communication that contribute to an effective strategy to

ensure that when disaster strikes, there is minimisation of damage to life and property.

http://www.tsunado.com/images/docs/tsunado-alerts-information-education.pdf

A Comparison Between Broadcast & Cellular technologies for Emergency Public Alerting

The decision to use Broadcast Radio and Satellite systems as the primary communication channel,

as opposed to cellular and internet based technologies, is discussed in this Paper

http://www.tsunado.com/images/docs/tsunado-tar-cellularcomparison%20-%20white%20paper

%202016.pdf

Waking a Sleeper

This Paper outlines how different and effective the TSUNADO alert is in waking a deep sleeper.

http://www.tsunado.com/images/docs/tsunado-wakingasleeper-whitepaper2016.pdf

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