Alert OC to conduct system test

On Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 10 a.m., the city of Seal Beach, Seal Beach Police Department and West Cities Police Communications, in partnership with the county of Orange,? will conduct a test of Orange County’s Regional Notification System, AlertOC.

The objective is to test AlertOC’s  effectiveness in delivering emergency notifications? to the public during times of major disaster.

The AlertOC system replaced the older “reverse 911” system.??AlertOC is a mass notification system used by the city to issue government-related messages to residents and businesses. ?All residential and commercial landline phone numbers are a part of the AlertOC system.

During the test all residents of Seal Beach should expect a phone call on their home phone line;? businesses will not receive a test call.

The AlertOC drill on Oct. 18 will replicate a large scale, multi-jurisdictional emergency requiring thousands of numbers to be called simultaneously across Orange County’s entire region.? Emergencies can happen at any time.

In these instances, AlertOC is a critical link for residents to immediately learn of any required actions.??The key feature of AlertOC is the ability for residents to register more than one contact method at a specific address. ?Registrations of cell phone and alternate numbers increase the potential of reaching the greatest number of community members as rapidly as possible.

This allows landlines, cell phones and e-mail addresses to be incorporated into a single notification system. For more information or to register alternate phone numbers and email addresses, visit AlertOC.com.