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This may be a little dated, but it looks like Maldives is implementing cell broadcast technology, in addition the article also mentions about an alert and warning system in Sri Lanka that is in place for a couple of years. The study mentioned in the article – ‘Mobile Cell Broadcasting for Commercial Use and Public Warning in the Maldives’ – is available online here.
Maldives to get early warning alerts via SMS
02 September 2009Facing increased threats triggered by climate change, Maldives will soon receive text based early warning alerts for disasters. Cell broadcasting, a technology will enable delivery of information to multiple users simultaneously in a specified area.
Texting short messages through mobile phones could help in early warning of natural disasters in the Maldives, says a new report.
The technology, called cell broadcasting, helps to deliver messages simultaneously to multiple users in a specified area.
In the case of the Maldives, if an early warning is introduced, it must be able to reach all of the outlying islands including tourists on resorts.
With mobile phones quite ubiquitous, it may be an ideal time to introduce an emerging technology — cell broadcasting — for public early warning,” says the report, ‘Mobile Cell Broadcasting for Commercial Use and Public Warning in the Maldives’, which was published last month (15 July).
More at: http://southasia.oneworld.net/ictsfordevelopment/maldives-to-get-early-warning-alerts-via-sms
Are emergency management teams adequately prepared to handle special-needs scenarios?
By Elizabeth A. Davis and Kelly Rouba
In an article that appeared in New Mobility magazine (“Are We Ready for an Emergency?” August 2009), Chip Wilson, Florida’s statewide disability coordinator for emergency management, was quoted as saying that “for far too long, people with disabilities have been an afterthought by many involved in emergency management.”
In support of that statement, disability advocate and Mercer County (N.J.) CERT member Norman Smith, who has cerebral palsy, added that for many years, “On the emergency management side, there was the assumption that someone else was ‘responsible’ for us—an agency, an institution, a parent, or the health care system.”
Recognizing that changes needed to be made, the National Council on Disability commissioned our organization to conduct extensive empirical research on emergency management issues pertaining to people with disabilities. The resulting report of over 500 pages examines all phases of emergency management.
This report is the result of culling through thousands upon thousands of pages of materials found inscholarly journals, news reports, firsthand accounts, testimony, after action reports, and the like from across a variety of disciplines. We looked to works in emergency management, protective services, sociology, social anthropology, medicine (disaster, geriatrics, pediatric), transportation, housing and much more.
The goal was to not just reiterate known or presumed gaps based in part on the lack of reporting on the issues, but to find replicable solutions and promising practices and to offer an organized roadmap for change.
Titled “Effective Emergency Management: Making Improvements for Communities and People with Disabilities,” the report calls for significant changes in the field and highlights a number of best practices whose adoption might better address the needs of people with disabilities.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the commission’s national broadband plan will call on Congress to allocate $16 billion to $18 billion over 10 years to help build an interoperable, pubic-safety broadband network–a bold effort to move forward on an issue that has stymied the FCC for years. He also said the plan would call for a re-auction of the D Block of the 700 MHz spectrum band, and said public-safety agencies should have access to all of the 700 MHz band, not just the D Block.
A day after he outlined the commission’s proposals for mobile broadband, Genachowski turned his attention to public safety–an issue that has long bedeviled policy makers working to smooth communications among the nation’s police, fire fighters and associated emergency workers.
“The private sector simply is not going to build a nationwide, state-of-the-art, interoperable broadband network for public safety on its own dime,” he said in a speech at the FCC. “Local municipalities and states can certainly contribute some amount to sustaining any network that is built. But the bottom line is that if we want to deliver on what our first responders need to protect our communities and loved ones, public money will need to be put toward tackling this national priority.”
Genachowski said the plan envisions public safety having access to the entire 700 MHz band through roaming and priority access arrangements. He said public-safety agencies could have access to as much as 80 MHz of spectrum under those kinds of deals.
He said the FCC does not want to limit the public-safety community’s options, noting public safety would be able to work with any commercial operator or systems integrator under the plan.
Read more: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/fcc-pushing-d-block-re-auction/2010-02-25?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal#ixzz0ga41xad7
t’s easy to get complacent and drift from day to day without paying much attention to potential threats until an incident out of the blue slaps us across the face and demands we sit up and pay attention.
For many, the actions of Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the man U.S. authorities say attempted to detonate an explosive device in his underwear, aboard Delta Airlines Flight 253 are such a wakeup call. The failed Christmas Day bombing came at a time when most people were focused on gathering for cherished family time and taking part in long-held holiday traditions. But with one news flash, those priorities, at least for a moment, were redirected into thoughts of safety and security.
Personally, beyond the typical reaction of most Americans to word of the failed effort, I could not help but think of the important role digital signage can play in delivering emergency alert messages.
Certainly, I’m not so wrapped up in digital signage that I think there’s a place for 42in LCD panels and a digital signage network aboard an airliner. That’s just silly. But what does come to mind is how businesses, educational institutions, stadiums and arenas, casinos, government agencies, the military and many others have taken steps to ensure emergency messaging via their digital signage networks as a component of their overall strategy for responding to a threat.
More at: http://www.content4reprint.com/business/digital-signage-emergency-alert-messages-can-save-lives.htm
Please take a moment to take our very short poll on how you prefer to receive emergency alerts notifications. Click on the link below to voice your opinion!
We will publish the results to the site in a week or two!
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