In an emergency, is an e-mail message enough to notify people of what's happening so they can take shelter, evacuate or take other evasive action?
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E-mail Alerts May Not Be Best Bet in Emergencies Like Va. Tech Shooting
READER FEEDBACK
Mark Liebe Thu, 2007-04-19 18:10
It depends on the situation. . . .
Having had a Deaf daughter in a Deaf School situation where a gun lockdown was being recently enforced, I would have to say having at least family or parental e-mail notification available would have been immense. There was none available at that time (that situation has since been corrected from recommendations I made to the school administrator).
Though such notification would not have been of much help in this situation to the students themselves (as is the case being made here), for the parents at least it certainly would have lessened the confusion and anxiety as the only other reporting mechanism available at that time were radio reports and phone calls to other parents. However, as many Deaf now carry Sidekicks and Blackberries, text messaging would actually have helped considerably as that is a primary means of communication among the Deaf.
As it turned out, the event was a false alarm, but for the 3-4 hours the lock down was in place at the Deaf school, there were some tense and uncertain moments for the parents, to be sure.
Anonymous Sat, 2007-04-21 22:59
It sounds like a great solution, until you apply one little fact. The first thing these students would have been told would have been TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONES AND PAGERS!
The college where my wife works is covered with signs telling everyone to turn off cell phones.
As good as it sounds, it is no better than sending an emergency email to someone who is not setting in front of a computer.
http://www.my_loving_domain.com Fri, 2007-07-20 07:50
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