Alanna

After the torrential rains and local tornado, the County is considering ways to become better prepared in the event of a disaster. Specifically mentioned were sirens or other similar methods of alerting the public especially through the night when people are sleeping. Hopefully, at some point the County could invest in a service which calls homes in a particular geographic neighborhood with a warning message which is already in use in parts of California to notify residents about wildfires. It’s similar to the computer phone messages that we receive from the school system when there’s some event. Perhaps the county already owns the technology but would need to adapt it to focus on zipcodes or neighborhoods. Another suggestion is to sign-up for text messages through the County’s website which offers a 24 hour weather alert system. Being prepared in the case of an emergency is crucial, now with the news about the earthquake in China and the cyclone in Myanmar, it should give us pause to consider how to better equip ourselves for when we are faced with another disaster.

10 Thoughts to “Disaster Preparedness”

  1. vfuentes
    May 15, 2008 at 10:08 am

    It won’t happen. God forbid if the Board of County Supervisors have to devert any more funds for public safety from Corey Stewards favorite Pet Program.

  2. Ruby
    May 15, 2008 at 10:37 am

    The county already has the ability to do a “reverse 911 call”. This was utilized recently in my neighborhood in PWC when there was a teenage girl for all citizens to be on the look out for. This message went out to folks in the eastern part of the Gainesville District. My neighbors and I were quite impressed by the revese 911 call. This is somehting I don’t think many citizens even now is available in PWC.

  3. anon
    May 15, 2008 at 10:43 am

    The City of Manassas has this ability too, and has used it (at least in my neighborhood).

  4. Alanna
    May 15, 2008 at 10:47 am

    great, is it being utilized in cases of tornados, floods etc… ?

  5. anon
    May 15, 2008 at 10:56 am

    The City of Manassas system was used to inform us about the state of a power outage that happened a year ago. So would assume it would be used for floods and tornados if they were to occur, or an emergency of any kind.

  6. WhyHereWhyNow
    May 15, 2008 at 11:02 am

    Thanks for letting me know about the text message system. I signed up just now. It took 2 minutes, one of them spent playing with the zoom function on the map feature.

  7. Ruby
    May 15, 2008 at 11:21 am

    Alanna,
    The way I understood what I heard at the BoS meeting the other day they most certainly could use this system for natural disasters. I think this is the first weather event we’ve had that would have the need to put the system in action. Hopefully, there was a lesson learned and the system will go in effect for such incidents. The system does have the capability of specific areas or countywide.

  8. Bring it On
    May 15, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    Completely, off topic but does anybody read Scott’s Morining Brew?

    http://morningbrew.sdwhiteonline.com/

    There’s a link to a new site but it doesn’t work for me. HELP?

  9. Moon-howler
    May 15, 2008 at 11:01 pm

    Thanks Alanna. I didn’t realize this service existed.

    I would like a siren system. It sounds outdated but very few people sleep througha siren blaring. This would help with tornado alerts.

  10. Moon-howler
    May 15, 2008 at 11:02 pm

    Bring it on, the link appears to be broken. I can’t hook up with it.

Comments are closed.