Emergency Notification Systems from National Notification Network Help Prepare For and Prevent Future Communication Disasters Like 9/11
Mass notification system provider, National Notification Network (3n) explains what happens when communication goes wrong and how automated notification systems can help prevent future tragedies.
Glendale, CA (PRWEB) July 26, 2004 -- National Notification Network (3n), http://www.3nonline.com -
developer and provider of the 3n Mass Notification System, helps the public
prepare for future disaster by improving emergency management and disaster
communication processes.
Emergency notification plays a pivotal role in
business continuity. To improve disaster preparedness, business and government
officials need to make disaster communications systems more reliable. One
important piece of the puzzle is mass notification – automated systems that send
voice and/or text messages to large numbers of people at once. A well-designed
mass notification system from National Notification Network can prevent many of
the communications failures that hamper disaster recovery.
Responding to
a major disaster is a complex process in which emergency communications can fail
at many points along the line. Even when disaster coordinators can locate the
people they are looking for, reaching all of them may be a slow process.
Organizing a large-scale disaster response requires knowing who is on site, who
is on the way, and how many additional personnel have to be called up. This
information is not always easy to obtain in an emergency situation as
experienced with the 9/11 attacks.
Disaster communications failed after
the 9/11 attacks when Emergency Medical Services (EMS) coordinators could not
establish exactly who had responded to calls for help and who was going to
respond. The login procedure required a radio number, but some personnel arrived
without their radios and were never logged in. Other EMS and ambulance personnel
were not dispatched but arrived at the scene in response to a recall of all
firefighters to the scene. In the end, EMS coordinators had to ask battalion
headquarters to telephone the homes of all unaccounted-for personnel. Reaching
all of them was a slow process and the time it took to call each individual
hampered disaster response and recovery.
An automated notification system
could have improved emergency communications in such a disaster. Calling each
and every unaccounted for person wasted time and distracted emergency providers
from other life saving tasks. 3n’s mass notification system allows thousands of
emergency alert calls to be placed in a few minutes, and conference calls with
key personnel can be initiated on the fly altogether avoiding the painstaking
process of One to One communication. 3n also understands that polling responders
is difficult, so their emergency notification systems offers access to hard to
obtain data through automated polling and real-time summaries of polling
data
Mass notification systems are specifically designed to address
common emergency communications failures. The failures described above could
have been mitigated had a mass notification system been part of the disaster
response and recovery plan. Mass notification lets disaster coordinators take
advantage of whatever communication pathways are open to deliver consistent
messages quickly and keep a running tally of the responses to those
messages.
Clearly, not every emergency communications failure can be
averted. The scale of a disaster may be great enough to overwhelm any planning
efforts. But in the real-life case cited, mass notification in conjunction with
effective planning would have saved lives, effectively informed emergency
personnel, and got business up and running much sooner.
About National
Notification Network
National Notification Network (3n) is a privately held
company based in the Los Angeles area in Glendale, California. Recognized as an
effective tool in both emergency and non-emergency situations alike, 3n's
innovative and powerful proprietary automated mass notification system is the
most advanced, efficient and easy-to-use mass notification system on the market
today. For more information about 3n, log on to: www.3nonline.com or call
toll-free (888) 366-4911.
For information about 3n visit: http://www.3nonline.com
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/7/prweb143682.htm