The Emergency Public Warning System was a system used in the province of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

until October 2011, whereby local or provincial authorities could warn the public about impending or current emergencies affecting their area. The system was replaced by the Alberta Emergency Alert but is still in use by the provinces Ontario and British Columbia. The system was proposed by the provincial government after an F4 tornado ripped through

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Alberta on July 31, 1987, killing 27 people and causing millions of dollars in damage. The EPWS could be activated by local police, fire, and environmental agencies; by Environment Canada; and by other provincial and local authorities as required. It could be activated for any of the following reasons: *

Severe weather Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. Types of severe weather phenomena vary, depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmos ...

Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

Wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

* Hazardous material release *

Terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

threat *

Water contamination Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. Wate ...

AMBER Alert An Amber Alert (alternatively styled AMBER alert) or a child abduction emergency alert ( SAME code: CAE) is a message distributed by a child abduction alert system to ask the public for help in finding abducted children. The system originated in ...

*Other threats to life, property and safety. The EPWS was originally operated by the

CKUA Radio Network The CKUA Radio Network is a Canadian donor-funded community radio network based in Edmonton, Alberta. Originally located on the campus of the University of Alberta in Edmonton (hence the UA of the call letters), it was the first public broadcaste ...

, but was later operated by Black Coral Inc., a private company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It was rebroadcast through various television and radio stations and cable systems provincewide.

References

External links

Emergency Public Warning System Website
at CKUA Radio via the Internet Archive as of May 2008
EPWS Website
at the Government of Alberta via the Internet Archive as of December 2011 {{Cell Broadcast System Civil defense Emergency population warning systems in Canada 2011 disestablishments in Alberta