A summer hiatus

Aug 6, 2008 10:23 AM, By Mary Rose Roberts

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I had a tumultuous year, so I took a summer hiatus and moved from Chicago to an Indiana beachside town. To soak up the full experience of the lake and evening sunsets, I didn’t order cable television or even bother with bunny-ear antennas in order to get local TV channels. I turned off the radio, and in my car I listened to jazz CD rather than news. But then it dawned on me: Maybe this wasn’t a safe move. I mean, how would I be notified of a man-made or natural disaster if I all but checked out of the media-centric, modern world?

Besides audible alarms, the only way I could receive notification is through emergency alerts via text message. Sending text messages to inform the masses gained traction on university campuses throughout the U.S. where students and faculty alike now use the technology to broadcast information, from an extreme weather event to a gunman on campus. But like all technological systems, it’s only as good as its users—who may or may not realize how to opt into notification systems administered by local governments.

This disconnect was discussed at this week’s Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials conference by Houston Thomas, CDW Government’s public safety business development manager. The company recently conducted a study in which it surveyed citizens in the Top 20 metropolitan areas about their knowledge of their local municipalities’ emergency alert systems.

A total of 1448 people responded to the survey, with a minimum of 50 respondents from each major metropolitan area represented. The survey was administered to decipher how cities communicate emergency information to citizens; determine where residents turn for up-to-the-minute emergency information; evaluate local emergency alert systems; and learn what type of information residents want from local emergency alert systems.

In general, most city, state and local governments primarily rely on television and radio to communicate emergency information to the public, Thomas said. According to the survey,75% of respondents depended on TV to receive notifications, versus 5% who depended on text messages.