Did an emergency alert test pop up on your phone? Don’t worry – it was just an accident.
“Today’s Alert Ready test was an accidental re-broadcast of last week’s test due to human error,” Emergency Info BC tweeted 15 minutes after the alert went out on many phones across B.C.
The last emergency alert took place last Wednesday and the next is scheduled for Nov. 17.
Today’s Alert Ready test was an accidental re-broadcast of last week’s test due to human error.
— Emergency Info BC (@EmergencyInfoBC) May 12, 2021
In a statement, an emergency preparedness ministry spokesperson said that staff regularly conduct internal tests of the Alert Ready system, but that on Wednesday, they accidentally used the standard operating procedure for a public test and not an internal one. Internal tests are run multiple times a week. The ministry said it will review the procedure to make sure internal and external tests aren’t mixed up in the future.
