New way to get quick information in an emergency
Tuesday March 17, 2009
New way to get quick information in emergency
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The Auckland Region Civil Defence Emergency Management Group has an entirely new way to communicate with the public.
The new website, www.aucklandcivildefence.org.nz, has an innovative feature that allows the public to subscribe to emergency updates. It is also clearer, simpler to navigate, and more visually appealing.
In addition to the emergency updates, the new website has an emergency status page, which brings together information from around the region using live feeds from transport, power companies, regional media, and regional weather, as well as advice from Civil Defence. This information is contained on one page to give the public an idea of what effect an emergency is having on the infrastructure most important to them.
The public can also subscribe to emergency updates, so that when the emergency status changes; or Civil Defence has new information or advice for the public during an event, it can be emailed directly to them.
According to Waitakere Councillor Derek Battersby, Chair of the Auckland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group, web technology has provided an opportunity to improve communication with the public.
“We wanted to use new technology to improve public education of, and participation in, emergency management,” he said.
“This means we can get relevant and current information out to the community. The ability to communicate early is crucial in the lead up to an event or in small events where infrastructure is still intact, but people are looking for information and guidance.”
The website also includes a password protected emergency managers section.
Russell Croker, project manager and emergency management advisor worked with local company OneClick to design a comprehensive password protected emergency managers section where people involved in emergency management in the Auckland region can access and share information.
“The emergency managers section has its own emergency status page, which allows any registered user to view the latest situation reports, plans and other relevant information from the Auckland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group and local authorities. This can be done from anywhere with an internet connection, which means they can access this from outside of an emergency operations centre if required. With the website being hosted outside of Auckland it provides redundancy in our data communications in case of local outages or damage to local servers,” says Russell Croker, project manager and emergency management advisor.
The emergency managers’ area of the site also contains more day-to-day information such as standard operating procedures, upcoming activities, and a comprehensive contact database.
The website was developed for the group by a local company, OneClick. Jason Platt, Managing Director of OneClick was involved in the project from the beginning.
“What has excited us most about this project was the fact that we were able to use internet technology for social benefit,” he says.
“During the project we’ve built a strong partnership with the team from the Auckland Group. The emergency management experience and insight that they shared with us and the trust they placed in OneClick gave us the ability to help them develop a website that makes best use of technology to meet the vision of building community resilience in the Auckland region,” he said.
The new website represents the Auckland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group’s engagement with the community to improve their readiness and resilience, while at the same time enhancing the ability of the region to share information during response, significantly increasing the capability of the Group.
ENDS
