SARASOTA, Fla., Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- As Hurricane Gustav threatened devastation rivaling Katrina, causing the largest evacuation in Louisiana history, Gulf Coast emergency management officials sent over a million text messages to coordinate efforts among government officials and first responders, and provide frequent updates on the storm's track, business and school closings and important information to speed recovery.
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Through the Roam Secure Alert Network(TM) (RSAN(TM)) city, county and parish officials were able to send targeted alerts, even during power outages, to the citizens of New Orleans and Jefferson Davis Parish, La. and Newton County, Miss. Alerts were sent simultaneously via e-mail and text messages to cell phones, Blackberry(R), pagers and other devices. Utilizing these multiple channels increases the likelihood each citizen and first responder will receive the message no matter where they are located or evacuated. RSAN is a product of Roam Secure, Inc., DBA Cooper Notification, and is protected by U.S. patent 7,409,428. Cooper Notification is a platform of Cooper Industries, Ltd., .
Last summer New Orleans launched a city-wide, interoperable, internal and public emergency text alerting system called NOLA Ready, powered by RSAN. In preparation for Hurricane Gustav, NOLA Ready helped emergency management coordinate the evacuation of 95 percent of the city and update their citizens with the latest Gustav storm-related information, sending more than 500,000 emergency alerts. In addition to notifying the public, the emergency text alerting system was frequently used to communicate with first responders and key emergency personnel. To be kept informed during the next emergency, residents of New Orleans should register for free for at http://www.nolaready.info/.
"Gustav was the first major test of our emergency evacuation and planning procedures since Katrina," said Sheriff Richard Edwards, Jr. of Jefferson Davis Parish. "JDEPAlert remained operational throughout the storm and related power outages, and it was critical to the success of our evacuation and keeping the public informed before, during and after the disaster."
Jefferson Davis Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness (JDEP) utilized their RSAN system, JDEPAlert, to evacuate residents and let them know when it was safe to return. Other alerts included bus evacuation schedules and locations, curfew details, insurance information, business and school reopening and trash service pickup resumption. Jefferson Davis Parish residents can sign up for emergency and public awareness alerts at https://alert.jeffdavis.net/.
"Text messaging proves to be a reliable and often used tool for coordinating government preparations and responses to natural disasters and keeping the public informed throughout an emergency," said David Drescher, General Manager, Roam Secure DBA Cooper Notification. "While RSAN also provides voice dialing capabilities, we continually see text as the overwhelming means by which our customers communicate with emergency personnel and the public during major incidents. During a disaster, text is often the only way to reach people, especially once they evacuate and wait for updates hundreds of miles away from their home phone." During Hurricane Katrina three million phone lines were destroyed, but text messaging worked. With more than one million homes and business currently without power in Louisiana and two million people on the move, text continues to be a reliable means for reaching emergency workers and residents.
Although evacuation was not required, Newton County emergency management activated its RSAN system, Newton Alert, to include a 24x7 incident page on the website for Gustav where users could log on and see maps and updates on Gustav's progress and post-landfall movement. Newton County officials also used RSAN for daily briefings following the storm's landfall. Newton Alert is currently providing updates to citizens about the next three tropical storms swirling around the Atlantic, including Hanna, Ike, and Josephine.
To support the Gulf Coast region, several other regions, including Philadelphia, utilized their RSAN system to activate and deploy Urban, Search and Rescue teams, first responders and emergency personnel headed to the Gulf region to assist with recovery efforts.
As Hanna heads up the east coast, Orange County, Fla., Washington D.C., Montgomery, Md., Arlington and King George Counties in Virginia, and other customers began activating their RSAN systems this week to prepare residents for the potential severe weather event this weekend.
Cooper Notification has deployed over 230 RSAN systems in major metropolitan areas across the country, including the National Capital Region (Washington, D.C. metro area), Orlando, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco and more. These systems play an important role in all-hazards emergency alerting and information sharing among government leadership, first responders and citizen warning.
About Cooper Notification
Cooper Notification, a solution platform of The Cooper Safety Division, is comprised of several businesses with decades of experience and innovation in the development of high quality products and solutions. With the ever present need to protect, alert and inform, Cooper Notification is focused on meeting the growing demand for personnel and property safety. We are the source for notification solutions supporting Fire, Security, Hazardous area, Mass Notification, Voice evacuation and Industrial Signaling applications and operating under the powerful global brands of Fulleon, MEDC, Roam Secure, SAFEPATH, WAVES and Wheelock. For more information, visit the web site at http://www.coopernotification.com/.
About Cooper Industries
Cooper Industries, Ltd. is a global manufacturer with 2007 revenues of $5.9 billion, approximately 87% of which are from electrical products. Founded in 1833, Cooper's sustained level of success is attributable to a constant focus on innovation, evolving business practices while maintaining the highest ethical standards, and meeting customer needs. The Company has eight operating divisions with leading market share positions and world-class products and brands including: Bussmann electrical and electronic fuses; Crouse-Hinds and CEAG explosion-proof electrical equipment; Halo and Metalux lighting fixtures; and Kyle and McGraw-Edison power systems products. With this broad range of products, Cooper is uniquely positioned for several long-term growth trends including the global infrastructure build-out, the need to improve the reliability and productivity of the electric grid, the demand for higher energy-efficient products and the need for improved electrical safety. In 2007, sixty percent of total sales were to customers in the industrial and utility end-markets and 34% of total sales were to customers outside the United States. Cooper, which has more than 31,500 employees and manufacturing facilities in 23 countries as of 2007, is incorporated in Bermuda with administrative headquarters in Houston, TX. For more information, visit the web site at http://www.cooperindustries.com/.
For information contact:
Marla Moran
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