SMS spreads your message faster than Swine Flu
The dangers of living in a globalised world of easy travel include the fast transmission of diseases such as Swine Flu. No country is exempt from the spread of this disease, including Australia. As of the 28th of April, all plane captains flying from Mexico and the United States and landing in Australia need to report on any passengers with flu-like symptoms before being granted permission to land.
Although there are no confirmed cases of Swine Flu at present in Australia, there are a number of people under observation for the potentially deadly virus and Australian travellers overseas have not escaped. Currently there are two Australian citizens in London with confirmed cases and they have been quarantined in their homes.
SMS text messaging is playing a role in warning and updating people about the spread of this disease. Cellphones.org in the United States has set up a SMS text message hotline as a public service in order to keep the public abreast of the latest developments. Simply by texting PIGFLU to 41411, mobile phone users will receive at least three updates a day with travel warnings, latest news and health service briefings. Indonesia’s Jakarta Post has also set up a SMS hotline asking for ideas on how the government should deal with this threat and citizens are welcome to send a text message to +62 811 187 2772 with their ideas.
Australia does not yet have a SMS text message alert system although talks are in progress following the devastation caused by runaway bush fires earlier this year. This kind of early notification SMS system allows government and emergency services to quickly relay information and instructions to all relevant parties. Because of the immediacy and guaranteed delivery of SMS text messages, this messaging technology has the potential to revolutionise the way in which governments and organisations react to emergency situations. There are a variety of supplementary services offered to increase the effectiveness of these emergency text messaging notification systems such as escalation of critical text messages to alternative delivery channels until acknowledgement has been received and the secure transmission of sensitive messages. With a trusted SMS Gateway provider, messages are traceable and delivery is audited.
SMS text messaging can play a range of roles in emergency situations from incident and damage assessment, mobilisation of rescue workers, transmission of emergency instructions to managing evacuations. It is vitally important in emergency situations that time is not wasted in co-ordinating efforts and SMS text messaging allows for horizontal communication as well as vertical instructions. Bulk text messaging systems as well as two-way text messaging options allow for quick and concise communication between all of the different groups involved in an emergency situation.
The Federal Government is in the process of setting a hotline (1802007) for anyone with questions about the flu outbreak – one can hope that it includes a text messaging component which would save time and money for both the call centre and the caller. Corporate SMS text messaging solutions are easy to implement and use and can make the difference between life and death on occasion. Remember, SMS travels faster than Swine Flu!
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Tags: bulk text messaging, emergency text notification systems, secure SMS, SMS, SMS gateway provider, SMS text message, SMS text messaging, text message, text messaging, two-way text messaging
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