Leong: Weatheradio Canada must be maintained for public safety, emergency preparedness |
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Leong: Weatheradio Canada must be maintained for public safety, emergency preparedness
Old-school radio crucial as backup when emergency situations render high-tech communications useless
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From floods to tornadoes, massive hail and crippling winter storms — we’ve seen it all. In more recent times, we’ve added wildfires to the list of regular threats.
Leong: Weatheradio Canada must be maintained for public safety, emergency preparedness Back to video
Despite this, the federal government is poised to pull the plug on its Weatheradio Canada service, a tool that helps keep Canadians safe.
The signals, which cover 90 per cent of the population, are to fall silent on March 16.
Authorities continually urge us to make preparations in case calamity strikes.
Keep enough food and water on hand to last for at least 72 hours, the government says on its emergency preparedness website. In case of an extended loss of electricity, have some kind of battery-operated or crank-powered flashlight.
The other big message is to do with receiving emergency alerts. You can get them through broadcast TV and radio, cable and satellite TV providers, directly on your mobile phone, on the internet through social media, and by using mobile apps.
You can see the problem with that list: If the power goes out for a long time, the only thing that will keep working for days on end is a portable radio. All you need are ordinary, widely available AA batteries.
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Weatheradio uses special receivers operating on VHF frequencies different from conventional AM and FM stations. Some models work on regular batteries, making them an excellent part of our emergency kits.
Timely alerts even when high-tech devices fail
The system usually broadcasts the latest local forecast and conditions in a continuous loop. When a weather warning is issued, some receivers can turn themselves on and sound an alarm (much like the emergency alerts we receive on our mobile phones) followed by a broadcast of the warning itself.
It’s really a shame the government hadn’t been going out of its way to increase awareness of this important, essential service.
It’s true that technology to deliver weather alerts has advanced since Weatheradio started in the 1970s. The newest developments involve nationwide satellite coverage on cellphones and satellite-provided internet services.
Still, such services require the ability to keep devices powered during an emergency.
During the 1998 ice storm that crippled southern Quebec and eastern Ontario, our family was without power for seven days, while several nearby communities were cut off for a month because of all the infrastructure damage.
Similarly, wildfires can take out power lines and other utilities — including local cell tower sites — with long timelines for restoration.
Power banks and the like can be helpful, but even those will eventually need to be recharged.
Even if the power stays on, it’s not a given modern comms will be able to manage.
A friend in Montreal told me about a minor ice storm a few winters ago that caused the power to go out for a lengthy period, which consequently shut off internet service for many people.
Cellphone networks overwhelmed during power outage
While the cell network stayed up, it became clogged with traffic from everyone trying to go online at the same time, rendering the system effectively useless.
No high-tech communications option is as resilient as a humble battery-powered radio receiver, including specialty Weatheradio sets.
There are other instances where Weatheradio is crucial for public safety.
Media coverage of this story included people who go hiking and boating in places beyond the reach of cellphone signals but covered by Weatheradio, allowing them to receive crucial alerts.
While officials have said Coast Guard weather transmissions on high-frequency radio will carry on, those are specific to particular bodies of water and don’t have the alerting function Weatheradio possesses.
Officials at Environment Canada have cited obsolete technology as the reason for closing Weatheradio.
With an annual budget of merely $4 million, Weatheradio is truly a bargain. Given the size of the federal government, one would think bean counters in Ottawa could find something resembling pocket change to renew the necessary equipment.
Don’t get me wrong: high-tech tools are truly helpful for sending timely weather alerts, but part of emergency preparedness is to be resilient and ready for when technology fails.
By shutting down Weatheradio, the federal government is failing Canadians.
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