Texting, Social Media For Emergency Communications
Posted on: Wednesday, 2 September 2009, 06:02 CDT
Text messaging, twittering and the use of social networking Web sites could help families stay in touch amid disasters that have knocked out traditional communication methods, the Safe America Foundation reported on Tuesday.
The Atlanta-based national safety group is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on a campaign known as "Drill Down for Safety”, which seeks to increase public awareness of communication options during an emergency.
"In an emergency traditional phone lines may be down and traditional methods of communication may not be working," Safe America Foundation spokeswoman Carla Shaw told the Associated Press.
"We want people to rehearse what would you do, and what other forms of communication would you have at your disposal."
Drill participants should pre-load emergency messages on their cell phones and pre-load relevant communication Web sites, Shaw advised, so the tools are accessible during an emergency. Families should also discuss ahead of time how to best utilize these tools, including which types of signals to look for during an emergency, she said.
From September 11 through mid October, some 200,000 people are expected to participate in drills of alternative emergency communication tools, the AP reported. Participants include those who pledged to practice disaster communication on Safe America's Web site, along with employees of companies such as UPS, Motorola and Office Depot that plan to hold safety drills and training sessions.
---
On the Net:
- An overview on emergency text messaging can be found at Safe America’s Web site at http://www.safeamericaprepared.org
- Guidelines for practice drills for families can be viewed at http://www.safeamericaprepared.org/pdf/DD2.pdf
Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
Related Articles
- Emergency Officials and AT&T Urge Families to Establish a 'Home Base' for Dialing 9-1-1
- Positron Public Safety Systems Launches the Emergency Communication and Collaboration Platform With Cisco
- MyVitalData(TM) Selected to Demonstrate Its Emergency Communication Gateway(TM) Integration With Microsoft HealthVault at Microsoft Conference
- Amcom Software Selected for Red Cell Project; A New Emergency Communication System for Homeland Security
- Emergency Communications Support Offered to Tornado Victims, Central Floridians
- With 2006 Hurricane Season Soon to Begin, Floridians Urged to Make Emergency Communications Plans
- First VoIP E911 Call-Handling Solution in Texas Implemented By Galveston County Emergency Communication District
- ERF Wireless and Micro-News Network to Provide Wireless Emergency Communications Network; Harris County, Texas to Evaluate Wide Area Wireless Disaster Notification System
- Statement By the Communications Workers of America on Verizon's Proposed Purchase of MCI
 |
 |
User Comments (2)
| 2. |
Posted by King Adamastor on 09/08/2009, 16:47 Looks like there is something new coming in the area of emergency communications in disaster situations. Check out the following news: "Fighting H1N1 efficiently: TeamTILT, Free two-way Alert Management Tool" on http://www.pr-inside.com/fighting-h1n1-efficiently-teamtilt-free-r1470582.htm I went to the site http:www.alarntilt.com/v5 and tes drived their free Beta version of this tool. The multi-channel notification tool is finally arriving |
| 1. |
Posted by Joanne Peters on 09/04/2009, 13:46 our community just signed up for a cross - platform (text and/or email) secure communication tool called myabui.com then I set my family up on it to communicate breaking news to them. works great. I don\'t know if there are other services like this, but it was free and it works. |
RSS Feeds