Contingency Planning

Emergency Text Message System Keeps Residents, First Responders Informed In Wake Of Hurricanes

September 8, 2008

As Hurricane Gustav threatened devastation rivaling Katrina, causing the largest evacuation in Louisiana history, Gulf Coast emergency management officials sent more than a million text messages to coordinate efforts among government officials and first responders, and provide frequent updates on the storm’s track, business and school closings and important information to speed recovery.

Through the Roam Secure Alert Network (RSAN) city, county and parish officials were able to send targeted alerts, even during power outages, to the citizens of New Orleans and Jefferson Davis Parish, La. and Newton County, Miss. Alerts were sent simultaneously via e-mail and text messages to cell phones, Blackberry, pagers and other devices. Utilizing these multiple channels increases the likelihood each citizen and first responder will receive the message no matter where they are located or evacuated. RSAN is a product of Roam Secure, Inc., DBA Cooper Notification, and is protected by U.S. patent 7,409,428. Cooper Notification is a platform of Cooper Industries, Ltd.

Last summer New Orleans launched a city-wide, interoperable, internal and public emergency text alerting system called NOLA Ready, powered by RSAN. In preparation for Hurricane Gustav, NOLA Ready helped emergency management coordinate the evacuation of 95 percent of the city and update their citizens with the latest Gustav storm-related information, sending more than 500,000 emergency alerts. In addition to notifying the public, the emergency text alerting system was frequently used to communicate with first responders and key emergency personnel. To be kept informed during the next emergency, residents of New Orleans should register for free for at http://www.NOLAReady.info.

“Gustav was the first major test of our emergency evacuation and planning procedures since Katrina,” said Sheriff Richard Edwards Jr. of Jefferson Davis Parish “JDEPAlert remained operational throughout the storm and related power outages, and it was critical to the success of our evacuation and keeping the public informed before, during and after the disaster.”

Jefferson Davis Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness (JDEP) utilized their RSAN system, JDEPAlert, to evacuate residents and let them know when it was safe to return. Other alerts included bus evacuation schedules and locations, curfew details, insurance information, business and school reopening and trash service pickup resumption. Jefferson Davis Parish residents can sign up for emergency and public awareness alerts at

https://alert.jeffdavis.net. “Text messaging proves to be a reliable and often used tool for coordinating government preparations and responses to natural disasters and keeping the public informed throughout an emergency,” said David Drescher, General Manager, Roam Secure DBA Cooper Notification. “While RSAN also provides voice dialing capabilities, we continually see text as the overwhelming means by which our customers communicate with emergency personnel and the public during major incidents. During a disaster, text is often the only way to reach people, especially once they evacuate and wait for updates hundreds of miles away from their home phone.”

During Hurricane Katrina three million phone lines were destroyed, but text messaging worked. With more than one million homes and business currently without power in Louisiana and two million people on the move, text continues to be a reliable means for reaching emergency workers and residents.

Although evacuation was not required, Newton County emergency management activated its RSAN system, Newton Alert, to include a 24x7 incident page on the website for Gustav where users could log on and see maps and updates on Gustav’s progress and post-landfall movement. Newton County officials also used RSAN for daily briefings following the storm’s landfall. Newton Alert is currently providing updates to citizens about the next three tropical storms swirling around the Atlantic, including Hanna, Ike, and Josephine.

To support the Gulf Coast region, several other regions, including Philadelphia, utilized their RSAN system to activate and deploy Urban, Search and Rescue teams, first responders and emergency personnel headed to the Gulf region to assist with recovery efforts.

As Hanna heads up the east coast, Orange County, Fla., Washington D.C., Montgomery, Md., Arlington and King George Counties in Virginia, and other customers began activating their RSAN systems this week to prepare residents for the potential severe weather event this weekend.