Sign up to keep in the loop during emergencies

Central Coast Council is currently exploring opportunities for targeted SMS communication in co-ordination with emergency services.

And it says it welcomes feedback from the community on ways to improve how it reaches community members.

Council faced criticism when it sent out press releases and posted on social media after hours on Tuesday, February 4, about the need for residents in nine suburbs to boil their water as a precautionary measure.

The precautionary measure was lifted the next day after further testing cleared the Terrigal Reservoir Water Supply of any contamination. 

But residents had a lot of questions about suburb boundaries and wanted assurances social media was not the only way Council was contacting residents.

And it wasn’t.

Council explained that it uses a blend of communication channels to ensure it reaches as many people in the community as possible.

These include on-line social channels and traditional media channels such as ABC and commercial radio, print and TV; as well as specific direct mail data bases, eNews etc to communicate during incidents and emergencies.

Where possible Council will organise live or pre-record interviews with the mayor and/or CEO/director to speak directly to the community about a rapidly changing situation.

Council also has its customer service phone line available.

Emergency services and Council always encourage community members to check in with elderly neighbours during an incident and/or emergency.

ABC radio is the emergency radio broadcaster so Council always ensures it has real time information “as much as possible” a spokesperson said.

“We also note that many older people do actually use social media,” the spokesperson said.

“Recent Market Research undertaken in 2024 identified social media and email to be the most preferred communication methods.

“Following the Boil Water Alert we received an additional 850 Facebook followers.”

Council said that in an incident or emergency which affected the Central Coast community, its priority was the safety of the community.

The spokesperson said Council regularly reviewed its processes in an effort to improve its communication. 

“Where an emergency such as a fire/flood/major weather event happens, Council follows the lead of the lead agencies – such as Police, NSW RFS, NSW Health, etc,” the spokesperson said. 

“Council welcomes feedback from the community to help us improve how we reach community members.”

Council said it also established a place on the Council website to answer frequently asked questions (FAQs) during incidents and emergencies – updating FAQs in real time as needed.

It updates its social channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram in real time as often as required – including reposting lead agency messages if it is a wider emergency.

Council also has a weekly free ENews Coast Connect email everyone can subscribe to.

This database was used as a communication channel in the Boil Water Alert – as an immediate means of communicating to subscribers.

The alert saw another 372 people sign up as regular subscribers for the email.

It has about 16,000 subscribers now and Council would love more community members to subscribe at www.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/enews<http://www.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/enews 

Council’s role in an emergency can be found here:   https://www.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/residents/support-programs/community-health-and-safety/emergency-information/councils-role

Merilyn Vale