CLATSOP COUNTY PURSUES NEW, IMPROVED PHONE NOTIFICATION SYSTEM

A key tool in alerting Clatsop County residents about the potential threat from the Pacific tsunami on March 11 was the telephone-based emergency notification system (ENS).

The “reverse-9-1-1” system allowed local emergency managers to send out recorded messages to people in selected areas, informing them of the tsunami warning and urging them to prepare to evacuate to safer ground. The calls, beginning at about 2 a.m., went out to approximately 7,500 households.

The ENS reached most of the targeted population, but in the aftermath of the event, Clatsop County is moving to upgrade the system to take advantage of new technology that will offer faster, more efficient service.

The move is prompted in large part due to difficulties experienced by the current service provider, Surfsimple Technologies, which is in bankruptcy and is no longer maintaining the system supporting the county’s ENS.

The county has issued a request for quotes from other potential vendors, with the goal of having a new system in operation by early May.

ENS systems are operated by many local governments and entities as a means of quick communications to constituents ? local school districts, for example, use them to alert parents of weather closures and other news.

Clatsop County sends out 10 to 20 ENS calls a month, according to Emergency Services Coordinator Gene Strong. They include alerts about water outages, road closures and public health advisories. The system is also used for alerting members of search-and-rescue teams and other specialized entities to local emergencies.

“We’ve had pretty good success with it,” Strong said.

The system allows the operator to direct calls to a specific area by simply drawing a line around on a computerized map. Pre-set overlays can also be entered into the database.

The new system will be compatible with the Common Alert Protocol, a data format that allows for the easy sending and receiving of various emergency alerts over several different systems and technologies.

A shortcoming of all ENS systems is the fact they only have access to listed land-line telephone numbers ? cell phone users must register their numbers with the system operator.

Surfsimple is no longer adding new cell phone numbers to Clatsop County’s ENS database. But once the county’s new system is in place, residents will be able to register their cell phone and other unlisted numbers, as well as request other notification methods including texting, email and other media formats, as well as notification in other languages.

“People are using a lot of different mediums for phones, and we need to have the ability for them to get their number in the system,” Strong said.

During the March 11 emergency, the county and the City of Seaside divided the task of sending out ENS calls. The county contacted numbers from Gearhart north, but the Seaside dispatch center handled the majority of the calls, sending notices to all the affected south-county households through its own ENS system.

Some households contacted by the Seaside ENS received their calls later in the morning. But Seaside City Manager Mark Winstanley explained at an after-action meeting Friday that the city prioritized its calls and targeted first the most vulnerable areas, all of whom received calls by 5 a.m. After those numbers were called, the city moved on to households in areas at less risk.

Strong noted that Seaside has fewer phone lines available, which may have slowed down its ENS calls. The new ENS system will provide coverage to the entire county, but cities will be able to access the system to make calls for localized alerts.