Lothian & Borders Emergency Information

The Emergency Services respond to operational incidents on a daily basis and provide information to the public via their own individual websites. This new web site www.lbalert.info is designed for use during larger scale incidents when the emergency services and other public organisations are providing a joint response and there is a need to provide a single source of information to the public.

In the event of a significant civil emergency in the Lothian and Borders area, this site will be used to give vital information to the people who live, work in, or travel through Lothian and Borders.

Rare Events
Civil emergencies are rare events. Despite Lothian and Borders being a safe area, some of the emergencies that have affected the area in recent times include:

* Wide area flooding
* Severe weather conditions
* The fuel crisis
* Foot and mouth

During these incidents it proved difficult for people and businesses to get up to date, reliable information.

In response to these difficulties the Police, Fire and local authorities within Lothian and Borders have developed Lothian and Borders Alert as a means of communicating more effectively.

From now on Lothian and Borders Alert will be used to keep people who are affected by an incident informed of developments and to give guidance or advice where appropriate.
During an incident

When an incident occurs in Lothian and Borders, this site will provide:

* Details of the incident and how it may affect you and the community
* News updates
* Media Releases
* Travel Updates

The information provided will be a consolidated response from the Police, Fire and local authorities.

The Public Relations and Communications departments will be responsible for updating the site with up to the minute information during the incident.

Behind the scenes
Lothian and Borders Alert also provides an internal system that enables the emergency services and local authorities within Lothian and Borders to communicate important information more effectively during a civil emergency.

Current Incidents include:
14,000 Birds Culled at Fenton Barns, East Lothian after contracting Newcastle Disease.
Polkemmet Land Regeneration Scheme contingency plans