Astoria and Seaside have joined Clatsop County’s new ClatsopALERTS! emergency notification system, enabling both cities to send out warnings and notices aimed at their own citizens.
On Wednesday the county board of commissioners approved intergovernmental agreements with both cities providing them with use of the system at no cost.
ClatsopALERTS! is a web-based communications system allowing local officials to deliver emergency warnings and other messages to citizens via land-line and cell phone, text message and email. Messages can be sent county-wide or to select areas to inform residents and businesses of natural disasters, law enforcement activities, missing persons reports, boil-water orders and other important information.
Clatsop County has operated an emergency notification system, often called “reverse-911,” for several years, but in May switched to a new vendor, Inspiron Logistics. The web-based system enables local officials to send out thousands of pre-recorded voice messages or text messages in minutes.
The new agreements with Astoria and Seaside will allow officials of the two cities to access the system to send out warnings and notices specific to their citizens. Each city will be able to send out up to 20,000 calls through ClatsopALERTS! at no cost through the end of the current service contract in May 2012.
The system will be accessed by the two cities’ 911 dispatch centers.
Citizens throughout the county are urged to register for ClatsopALERTS! The phone numbers of homes and businesses with land-line telephone service through Qwest, CenturyTel and other standard phone companies are automatically entered into the ClatsopALERTS! database. But cell phone numbers, as well as numbers for other land-line carriers, pager numbers and email addresses, must be entered by the user.
To register a phone number or other contact, go to “ClatsopALERTS! Emergency Notification System” on the Clatsop County website, www.co.clatsop.or.us. You will be asked to enter your name, phone number and address, and choose English- or Spanish-language messages. You may enter a phone number, pager number and/or email address, and may choose to receive the alerts by voice or text message.
A “Frequently Asked Questions” page on the county website provides more detailed tips about the service.
For more information go to the ClatsopALERTS! page on the county website, or contact the Emergency Management Division at (503) 338-3656.
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