The Problem:
During the recent “Auburn 49 Fire” essential information stopped moving for our community
- Emergency Services (911) doesn’t handle non-emergency information requests
- There is no single place for the public to get essential information during an emergency
- Information Providers were overwhelmed with phone calls, had outdated contacts, and had no “real-time” information
This created a "logjam" where information should have moved out easily to the community, but it stopped or slowed drastically instead.
The Solution:
Create a software hub to keep essential information updated automatically, and offer real-time help during emergencies.
- Update essential service information weekly using text messages (SMS)
- Have a web site and use micro-blogging services as a “window” for the public
- Provide for frequent updates and two way communication during an emergency
We call this hub Sierra EARTH (Emergency Access Real Time Hub).
During an emergency:
Information Providers want to be able to help the public with Real Time information !
During an emergency:
Essential Service Organizations need to update their information quickly !
During an emergency:
the public needs a easy place to go for essential (non-emergency) information!
Sierra EARTH is a community hub designed to keep information about essential (non-emergency) services moving!
How EARTH Works:
- Once a week EARTH sends out an SMS message with basic info to each organization’s contact person
- If it’s all correct, they can reply via SMS with a simple “OK”
- If there is a change, it can also easily be made via SMS
- If there is no response, a volunteer can call to get new, updated contact information.
- During an emergency, Information Providers can access EARTH directly to request more information
- This keeps EARTH updated before, during and after an emergency
- People can sign up for automatic updates from web sites like Twitter and Facebook
- Sierra EARTH would also have it’s own web site which would be a public window for this information.
