Post by: Kim Stephens
It seems almost everyday now I’m seeing tweets about apps being built by one emergency management agency or another. Today I’d like to highlight the two that were mentioned just this morning.
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency has released a “ReadyTN” application for Andriod. This application has all of the preparedness information that citizens would find on Ready.gov, but with the added benefit of being location aware. The GPS feature presumably can help people locate services, such as shelter locations and recovery operations, near them after a disaster. It also has a stream of data intended to increase risk awareness on the part of the citizen, but it seems for now the risks are limited to weather and roadway hazards. I’m sure this was a function of available data streams.
The other App is not a traditional “preparedness app” or even an app designed to help you locate city services, rather this application allows citizens to help each other. It’s genius, really. It’s called “Pulse Point” and it works by allowing citizens who are trained in CPR to sign up for notifications they receive on their cell phone when someone near them requires CPR. Here’s their description of how it works:
Notifications are made simultaneously with the dispatch of paramedics to anyone within the area that is CPR-trained and has indicated their willingness and ability to assist during an SCA emergency. These notifications are only made if the victim is in a public place and only to potential rescuers that are in the immediate vicinity of the emergency. When notifications do occur they intend to target potential citizen rescuers that are primarily within walking distance of the event.
PulsePoint App – PSA from Fire Department on Vimeo.
The app also has other features which allows citizens to see select “emergency communication centers worldwide. Mobile users have real-time access to emergency activity as it’s occurring in these communities.” I’m guessing this would appeal to people that enjoy listening to fire scanners. In fact: “Users can also choose to be notified of incidents by type when they are dispatched and listen in on live emergency radio traffic via the modern version of the traditional fire scanner.” Interesting.
idisaster 2.0 