Mass Emergency Notification Systems

Telecommunications technologies that allow emergency management organizations to rapidly send telephone notifications to all residents and businesses in an affected area in the event of a major disaster or other emergency. An operator using the system can identify the affected neighborhood or region and record a message that describes the situation. The system automatically calls listed and unlisted telephone numbers (including TTY/TDD) within the affected area and delivers the recorded message. If phone lines are busy, the system attempts to redial those telephone numbers to make contact. If an answering machine picks up the call, the emergency message will be left on the machine. Also included are text message alert systems and systems that use other technologies to send real-time messages.