New York To Notify Citizens By Cell Phone In Cases Of Emergency

One of the more useful things about cell phones is that news can travel fast.

New York City recently announced that they are going to notify citizens via their cell phones within minutes of an emergency event taking place. Officials will use cell broadcast technology and visitors will be able to get these emergency messages, as well.

People don’t have to register to use this emergency alert system, but there is an opt-in process that citizens should follow to assure that they get these alerts.

What emergency information can be sent to people?
When there is an emergency situation in New York City, only people located in the geographic area affected by that emergency will receive the emergency notice. Officials can tell people what to do, areas to avoid, where to go to remain safe, or any other information that they want communicated to the general public quickly.

Why the cell broadcast system can work.
This pilot program can be implemented due to the way that cell phone technology works. When we use our cell phones, our phones “connect” to the cell phone tower that is closest to us when we make a call.

Changing locations during a call.
If we change locations during that call, our call may be shifted to a different cell phone tower. If we keep changing locations while we’re on a call, whether we’re in a car, train, or bus, we could use many different cell phone towers all during that one call.

This is the reason that sometimes our calls are clear and it is easy to hear. While other times calls are not clear and it is very hard to hear. A large metropolitan area, like New York City, could have thousands of cell phone towers.

Similar to reverse 9-1-1 emergencies.
The emergency notice system will be similar to reverse 9-1-1. The same cell phone tower that we use to make a call can contact all cell phones is in its geographic area. The tower doesn’t need a phone number, know who we are, or need any other information about us.

When there is an emergency situation, New York City officials can specify that a certain cell phone tower send an emergency notice to all cell phones in that geographic region of New York City.

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