In a potentially life-threatening situation, 10 minutes can cost or save a life.

This was the motivation behind the company professing to be the country’s first dedicated public emergency alert service, or Lert for short.

Lert aims to provide crucial information in times of potential emergencies to subscribers via email and text messages – using data from more than 120 New Zealand sources.

Dunedin entrepreneur Stuart Gunn founded Lert because he believes he can get important and more relevant information to New Zealanders faster than anyone else – and in a form that is easier to access for most kiwis.

“Several Civil Defence regions are using our service as part of their information supply”, says Gunn, “also Metservice, WeatherWatch.co.nz, Councils, I Sites, Lines companies, and businesses that have travelling staff.”

Stuart Gunn says the service is filling what he sees is a need in the current New Zealand environment.

“When this was set up (2012), no-one was providing what we do, and that is still the same today. I have a concern that people should be informed ASAP.”

Subscriptions cost $20 annually which cover a text and email service, to support operational costs, and the development of an app for smartphone and tablet devices coming soon.

Check out Lert.info for more details, a full list of sources and a breakdown of how the service works.

AND YES – this is an advertisment/news story – we don’t often do write ups like this but Stuart and the Lert Info team have backed WeatherWatch.co.nz from day one and helped promote our free website and commercial services to many people and organisations.  We have no financial interest in Lert but we enjoy the service Stuart provides and look forward to our continued work with the Lert team the next time severe weather pops up.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz