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Is Twitter really the official way to notify people of danger? Or is there also a cell phone warning system?
by koheripbal 9y ago
Is Twitter really the official way to notify people of danger? Or is there also a cell phone warning system?
- ghaff 9y agoHow would they know cell phone numbers? Where I live they call landlines for emergency alerts but there's no other way to specifically target residents.
- devscreen 9y agoHow do amber alerts work? When I lived in SF I got SF-related alerts. I don't know enough about how they work - but it sounds like tech that could be re-used for major emergency alerts.
- ghaff 9y agoAs I should have realized, they're sent to all wireless phones in the area. On an iPhone at least both Amber and Emergency alerts are on by default but you can turn either of them off.
- scentoni 9y agoThe state can broadcast emergency messages, it doesn't need to send them individually to some database of cell phone numbers. Alert About Missile Bound for Hawaii Was Sent in Error, Officials Say https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16140761 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16140761
- silencio 9y agoIf it was a big deal, beyond the opt-in SF text alerts, there's a thing called Wireless Emergency Alerts. It's geographically targeted. It's basically like Amber Alerts going to your phone except for imminent emergencies. There has been some controversy about the timing and use of WEAs for evacuations for the big wildfires in California recently, but I imagine it's hard to balance alarm fatigue with the need to warn people.
- LiroXIV 9y agoCanada actually did introduce a system similar to EAS a few years ago (https://twitter.com/SaultFire/status/943557549139382272 https://twitter.com/SaultFire/status/943557549139382272). There is a mandate for mobile alerting taking affect in April.
- silencio 9y agoThere are multiple notification systems available, I find that the twitter account tends to have a lot more info about hyperlocal and situational events vs the text-based system. I've just never straight up heard the outdoor one go off except for tests. Folks in SF that want to sign up for the texts can do so here: http://sfdem.org/public-alerts http://sfdem.org/public-alerts
- bitwize 9y agoThe national and state emergency alert systems have a cellphone program. You should get cellphone alerts in an emergency (I get them for flooding, AMBER alerts, etc.).