To text or not to text during emergencies...

As part of National Preparedness Month, Safe America Foundation launched an initiative to tell the public to use text messaging to communicate with friends and families immediately after an emergency or disaster before calling on the phone.

HOWEVER

Some telecommunications experts warn that might not be the best advice saying texting is not reliable during emergency situations and voice communication should be the first option, especially when calling 911.

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FOLLOW-UP: 

The rush to use text messaging as an emergency notification system fails to consider the weaknesses and potential hazards of this solution ...Read Article...

Using social media for better emergency response

A recent Red Cross survey, Social Media in Disasters and Emergencies, reports that more people are now use social media tools to report emergencies or call for help, and they expect government response agencies to be actively engaged in using the technology, too.  READ MORE

Opinion:  The technologist's and public's expectations of response times to requests for assistance using social media tools is unrealistic ... "Sixty-nine percent of the adults surveyed said emergency response agencies should regularly monitor their Web sites and social media networks so they can respond promptly to requests for help posted there; 74 percent said they would expect help to arrive within an hour."  The future of social media in disaster response is intriguing but to today expect local emergency response agencies to be monitoring and reacting to social media postings is dangerous.