This Friday, April 18, marks the anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, one of the most famous disasters ever to hit the Bay Area. It’s a powerful reminder that this is earthquake country; it’s also an opportunity for all of us to revisit our personal emergency plans.

For tips on how to prepare yourself and your family, visit the Risk Services emergency preparedness webpage. And, if you haven’t yet signed up for UCOPAlert, UCOP’s communications system for off-hours alerts, why not do it today?

The system is designed to send emergency notifications outside normal business hours, when you’re not at the office but need to know about a situation that may affect your ability to get to or perform your work.

Such situations might include earthquakes, fires, transportation or power outages or civil unrest. The alerts include a description of the emergency, instructions on what to do and, depending on the situation, a request to confirm that you received the alert and are safe.

“UCOPAlert is a valuable service that we want the entire UCOP community to benefit from,” said Robert Charbonneau, program manager in Risk Services Emergency Management. “Emergencies can happen any time, and this system allows us to notify you quickly to ensure that you get the information you need to make informed decisions and stay safe.”

Since UCOPAlert went live last fall, it has been used to send notices about BART strikes and shutdowns. You can select which of your devices will receive notifications, including personal email, home telephone or mobile phone. Messages will also be sent to your UCOP office email address.

Registering your personal contact information is entirely voluntary but strongly encouraged so you can stay informed. Personal contact information remains confidential and is stored in secure government-grade data servers administered by Siemens, the global technologies firm that provides the UCOP service.

Here’s how to sign up:

• Log into UCOPAlert through the UCOPAlert registration portal. Go to REGISTER FOR NOTIFICATIONS at the top right of the page and click on the link.
• To get started, log in using your UCOP email address as your username, and create a personal password by clicking “Forgot Your Password?” and following the prompts. (If you haven’t logged in for 180 days, you will also need to reset your password.)

• Follow the instructions to register as many phone numbers and email addresses as you like and designate which device you prefer to receive alerts first, then second, then third, etc.

During normal work hours, UCOP will continue to notify employees of emergencies through work email, office phones or the public address system. UCOPAlert is reserved for sending alerts outside of regular business hours.

See the UCOPAlert website to get more details, including how to register and find answers to frequently asked questions.

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