Disaster Preparedness & Emergency Communications

Sign up with Alert Long Beach to receive Emergency Notifications to your mobile phone and/or email address.

In the event of an emergency, severe weather, or any incident that impacts city operations, a text message and/or voice message will be sent to the cell number and/or email address that you specify.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• WHAT IS ALERT LONG BEACH?

  AlertLongBeach is an emergency notification system used by the City of Long Beach to issue emergency alerts to residents and businesses. The system has the capacity to send thousands of messages within minutes via phone, e-mail and text. Only authorized officials are allowed access to the system.

• HOW CAN I SIGN-UP TO RECEIVE ALERT NOTIFICATIONS?

  You may sign-up online by going to the City of Long Beach’s Alert Long Beach site, or downloading the CodeRED Mobile Alert app.

• WHAT TYPES OF MESSAGES WILL BE SENT USING THE ALERTLONGBEACH SYSTEM?

  The primary use of the system will be to disseminate messages pertaining to the health, safety or welfare of the community that is being affected by a perceived, emerging, or imminent emergency event. The City may also choose to use the service to disseminate non-emergency messages deemed of interest to residents.

• HOW DOES THE ALERTLONGBEACH SYSTEM WORK?

  Authorized officials record a voice, e-mail or text message that is then delivered quickly to individuals who register to receive alert notifications.

• WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE A LANDLINE, CAN THE ALERTLONGBEACH SYSTEM CALL MY CELL PHONE?

  Yes, residents who register their cell phone numbers in the AlertLongBeach system will receive messages on their cell phone. Since there are many instances when residents may not be at home to receive an emergency message phone call, public safety officials recommend that all residents with a cell phone add their number to the AlertLongBeach database.

• DOES THE ALERTLONGBEACH SYSTEM REPLACE OTHER EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS?

  This system supplements, but does not replace other communication methods used by emergency responders. During an emergency, City 9-1-1 emergency lines will still be available. Television, radio and city web sites will continue to broadcast important announcements as well.

• IF I HAVE PROVIDED MORE THAN ONE PHONE NUMBER, WHAT NUMBER WILL BE CALLED?

  You are able to set preferences in your account based off of each number provided. If an emergency situation arises that requires a notification to be sent to multiple phone numbers, we will activate the system to place a simultaneous call to all of your numbers. For matters with less urgency, you may be notified at only one phone or by e-mail or text depending on your account preferences. 

• WILL THE ALERTLONGBEACH CALL NUMBERS OUTSIDE OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY’S AREA CODES?

  Yes. The area code does not impact whether or not a call is made.

• WILL THE ALERTLONGBEACH SYSTEM WORK IF I HAVE A CALL SCREENING SYSTEM ON MY PHONE?

  There are several varieties of call screening devices which use differing protocols for screening. In general, the system has been found to work with these devices.

• HOW DOES THE ALERTLONGBEACH SYSTEM RESPOND TO BUSY SIGNALS OR NO-ANSWER SITUATIONS?

  For busy signals, call waiting signals or when there is not an answer, the call will be repeated 3 times in an attempt to reach you. If the phone is answered by a message recorder, the message will be left on the answering device. If after 3 attempts the call does not successfully go through, the system will stop attempting to call.

• IF I’M LISTENING TO A MESSAGE LIVE, IS THERE A WAY TO REPEAT IT?

  Yes, at the end of the message, simply press the star (*) key on your telephone to have it repeated in its entirety.

• HOW DO I CHANGE OR DELETE THE INFORMATION I REGISTERED?

  To change or delete the information you registered into the AlertLongBeach System, log into the system and select the “Edit or Delete” option. Your login id is unigue and created when you first sign up. 

• IS MY CONTACT INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THE ALERTLONGBEACH SYSTEM DATABASE?

  AlertLongBeach contains residential and commercial landline phone numbers for most of Long Beach’s geographic population that is published in the white and yellow pages. In accordance with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), landline numbers are acquired from commercial carriers’ 9-1-1 telephone database. The use of the 9-1-1 database is regulated by the CPUC code sections 2872 and 2891.1. The code states that information contained in the 9-1-1 database is confidential, proprietary and shall not be disclosed or used except by authorized personnel for the purpose of emergency notifications.
  
  It is important and recommended that community members provide additional phone numbers, e-mail addresses and a text number by registering through the AlertLongBeach web portal. Each address location can have up to five phone numbers, four e-mail addresses and four text numbers.
  
  VOIP Users: Please note that VOIP numbers are not currently provided through the white or yellow pages. We are working with VOIP Providers to acquire this information, however, until we are able to collect it, please use the AlertLongBeach registration portal to provide this information.

• WHAT PRECAUTIONS ARE TAKEN TO PROTECT PERSONAL CONTACT INFORMATION STORED IN THE ALERTLONGBEACH SYSTEM?

  AlertLongBeach is a service powered by Connect-CTY®, a product of Blackboard Connect, Inc. (BCI). The City of Long Beach and BCI take citizen security and privacy concerns seriously. Policy and contract agreements have been put into practice that prohibit AlertLongBeach contact information from being shared, sold, traded, leased or loaned to outside parties. Staff access to citizen contact information is limited and approved at many layers. Citizen provided contact information transmitted through the web-portal is sent over a secure connection.
  
  From a technical perspective, BCI utilizes multiple physical and virtual layers of firewalls to maintain data security. Data is hosted in state-of-the-art facilities which require photo identification, thumb-print recognition, keyed access, and are continually staffed with full-security personnel. All data is encrypted prior to being placed on tape for offsite storage. BCI also retains an external, independent security firm to perform annual security audits. No confidential information is transmitted between BCI and its customers using e-mail, but rather always uses secure communication channels.

• WHO DO I CONTACT IF I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS?

  If you have additional AlertLongBeach questions, please contact the City’s Department of Disaster Preparedness at (562)-570-9250.