By Alex Hinojosa
The El Paso Times
EL PASO, Texas — The Office of Emergency Management is beginning to use text messages and e-mails to inform the public of potential emergencies.
The area’s first Reverse Notification System will warn residents about natural disasters and terrorist threats through the use of Internet-based Geographic Information System mapping — a system that captures data linked to an area.
The system will also provide instructions about where to go for shelter using methods such as text messages, e-mails and calls to cell phones. The service is free for area residents.
“This will save time and personnel while residents will be able to receive advanced notification,” said Lt. Richard Gonzalez of the City-County Office of Emergency Management. “You can register multiple cell phones, and if you have a smart phone, you can get e-mail alerts.”
The system cost about $285,000 and was funded by a 2007 grant from the Urban Area Security Initiative.
“This is another way to get immediate information out to the public,” said Fire Department spokesman John Concha. “It also benefits services like the Fire Department because the GIS mapping will allow us to target a specific area that needs help immediately.”
Before the system was in effect, the Office of Emergency Management had to inform the public by radio, television and door-to-door visits. Gonzalez said that though the process was effective, it wasn’t efficient. Residents who did not have immediate access to any of those resources were left uninformed.
“If there was a hazardous spill or flooding, fire units would have to go out there and take care of the situation while police officers would go door-to-door to instruct residents on whether to stay at home or leave to another location,” Gonzalez said. “By the time the entire process was complete, about five hours would have gone by.”
Although about 260,000 residential and business non-cellular telephone numbers were automatically registered, getting the word out to the public is happening slowly.
The Office of Emergency Management and the Fire Department have reached out through neighborhood association meetings, events for senior citizens and other events.
Resident Betty Ott found out about the system at the Aging to Perfection Expo. Ott said the system is a good idea and will probably catch on.
“These days no one has a land line anymore,” she said. “Everyone has cell phones, and when it comes to the Internet, if there’s a flooding in the area, it’s a possibility that the Internet might give out. The same goes with electricity for the television, so the cell phone is really the only other means of receiving any urgent information.”
Copyright 2010 El Paso Times, a MediaNews Group Newspaper