Would you want a telephone to save your life int eh event of a disaster, natural or manmade?
Posted on 11/27/2009 6:24:01 AM PST by myknowledge
The final trial of the new new national telephone warning system has been completed in Victoria.
The new system, called the Emergency Alert System begins operation next week.
More than 50,000 test messages were sent to phones in Torquay, Colac, the Dandenong Ranges and Maribyrnong as part of a trial that began on Tuesday.
It allows text messages to be sent to mobile phones based on a billing address, and voice messages to landlines based on location.
The Premier, John Brumby, says the system will allow emergency services to send 300 text messages per second, and 1,000 voice messages per minute.
He says it will only be used on rare occasions when there is a serious threat to lives and property.
"It can be used for fires, but of course, it can be used for other emergencies as well," he said.
"Any emergency in any part of our state, this new messaging system, Emergency Alert, can be used so it will save property and save lives."
Mr Brumby is hopeful that, in the not too distant future, they will be able to move to stage two.
"That is, we will be able to send all of those messages on that geographic area," he said.
"So that where ever you are a phone subscriber, if you're in a particular area, everybody in that particular area will get that particular message."
Would you want a telephone to save your life int eh event of a disaster, natural or manmade?
Good idea, bad idea....Suppose you block areas because of your use of the airwaves.
It’s all good until the phone lines go down. What about the spotty cell phone service areas and I never have mine on 99.9% of the time. Still, it’s a good idea.
This year, our school put in such a system and they had to use it already. Of course, by the time it called me, I had know of the situation 2 hours earlier and another time for bad weather. Individual departments such as sports or theater arts are also using it for after school practice info so that’s a big bonus.
So how soon before some ne’er-do-wells with a computer calling program send out bogus emergency messages to start a panic?
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