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
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of mobile users in Bangladesh’s flood and cyclone-prone areas will now receive advance warning of an impending natural disaster through an alert on their cell phones, a government official says.
Bangladesh — one of the world’s most densely populated countries — is highly vulnerable to natural disasters, including cyclones, storm surges, droughts, floods and earthquakes, which often affect millions of people.
In a bid to minimise loss of life and damage to property, Bangladeshi authorities have signed an agreement with two mobile operators in the country to provide disaster early warning alerts to subscribers.
Grameenphone and state-owned Teletalk will send instant messages to their subscribers in two of the most vulnerable areas — flood-prone north-central Shirajganj district and cyclone-prone Cox’s Bazar district on the coast.
“This new initiative will mean that people will get an alert on their phones warning them that they are likely to face flooding or a cyclone,” Syed Ashraf, communications specialist for the country’s Disaster Management Bureau, told Reuters by telephone.
“So they will then be able to take action like evacuate their homes and seek shelter in assigned places.”
More at: http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-40562420090624?sp=true
Even PDAs and cell phones leave an emergency response-security void when absent or ignored. Wireless PA systems compatible with two-way radios can economically compensate for this weakness.
“Between Hurricane Katrina and the Virginia Tech shootings, some of my security colleagues and I became concerned about how effectively we’d communicate with the community during emergencies,” says Tom Carey, Director of Security and Campus Safety at Bates College, a four-year independent liberal arts and sciences college in Lewiston, Maine.
“If a security incident occurred on campus, students, staff, or visitors could walk straight into trouble if we couldn’t get an emergency message to them in time,” adds Carey, who’s on the Domestic Preparedness committee of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA), the leading voice of the campus public safety community. “While PDAs and cell phones are great, they leave a gap in emergency response for those not carrying or paying attention to them.”
When natural or man-made disasters occur, from tornado warnings to domestic or international terrorism, PDAs, cell phones and email are of little help to those without them or ignoring them. To better protect school campuses and the wider community, wireless PA systems compatible with existing two-way radio systems are economically filling the emergency response-security gap at some of the nation’s most pro-active campuses and municipalities.
Looking for Better Choices
Carey sought a fast, informative, comprehensive, and reliable emergency response system for Bates College, but was unsatisfied with the traditional choices.
More at: http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/MassNotification/BestPractices/?ArticleID=312&page=1
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