S98 REVERSE 911® for Non-Immediate Hazard Warnings

Sunday, 23 January 2011
Antonia Rosati, University of Colorado, Denver, CO

REVERSE 911® is a telephonic community notification system that may be used to deliver outbound messages in the event of an emergency. The system uses database and mapping technologies to allow phone calls to be sent to a specific geographic area for delivery of appropriate messages to residents in the affected area.

Through the use of GIS, specific communities can be targeted to receive phone warning messages based on a particular hazardous threat. This study focuses on inundation hazards, such as river floods, dam breaks and tsunamis.

The National Weather Service in Humboldt, Del Norte and Mendocino county are working together to use REVERSE 911® as a method of emergency communication. More than one way is needed to communicate disasters, hazards, and evacuations. Technology has vastly changed and people get news from more sources than the old public alert system can currently supply.

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