text during disasters

7/29/2019 Text During Disasters

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EducationalMessagesServicesInc.Healthinformationatyourfingertips

211 During Disasters: How Texting is Changing How211 Centers Mobilize Resources During Disasters

While Staying Relevant in Tough Economic Times

EMS develops projectsthat aim to increaseefficiency and funding forour partners. 211s arein a unique position toprovide support to their

communities with healthinitiatives that emphasize

community partnerships-an aspect of 211s thatmake them crucial to

properly and efficientlylinking resources toindividuals. Inter-agency partnerships lead to more funding, particularlyduring times when public dollars are so dear. Utilizing 211 centers asdissemination portals for mobilizing resources while supporting

innovative alliances that maximize infrastructure already in place,are making programs more kinetic in an age where timely,

relevant information is the most critical ingredient for realsustainability.

In EMS collaborations with hotlines, helplines and 211 Call Centers we

often find there are untapped resources available to them - initiativesthey either arent aware of, or in some cases they are, but feel they donthave the capacity to support the work that is required. In the case of

211 Centers, for example, there is unused funding for Veterans services,womens health, youth services, disaster preparedness and disaster relief

strategies/infrastructure. And a core aim of these funding streams is toincrease access to resources. By augmenting standard phone supportwith sms text messaging capacity 211s can increase their ability tomanage large volumes of regional messages that can be sent to specificgroups/zip codes, within the communities they serve. SMS Alerts is a

critical piece for obtaining numerous federal funding initiatives because

of its history as a key communication channel during disasters and itsuniversal appeal across some of the most difficult and disadvantaged

priority groups.

Text communication during and in the wake of disasters is the mosteffective communication strategy available to 211s. TXT211is acomplete sms service for I&R as well as community health & safety alertsand post disaster alerts. In the following document, we discuss how


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texting and community alerts are essential during disasters.Additionally, we offer a solution that supports 211 with instant smsservices that are provisioned with all cell phone carriers in the US andCanada as 211 services. There is no other service of its kind.

This exciting platform isavailable now and has beentested in crisis centers and211s for info and referral,disaster relief support, andautomated text based

follow-up. Testing hasconcluded that TXT211

service can save staff time,and curtail missed calls.Unlike telephone support,

that requires a 1-to-1operator to client ratio, Txt211 has demonstrated instances where anoperator is managing 5+ encounters simultaneously. Adding text willdecrease voice call volumes because more clients are texting 211, andtext will increases response times due to the unique nature of sms

communication. Text will also open the door to new funding sources, aswe will discuss further in this document.

Please [email protected] or text INFO to the short code898211, to learn more or schedule a demo.

Text Alerts, Resource Dissemination: Background

Fire, Police, and Emergency Services are increasingly relying on textmessaging, when all other communication is down. Text message alerts

have saved lives during disasters. SMS alerts systems are already beingused by public service agencies worldwide to help communities stayconnected with essential information about shelters, emergencyevacuations, alerts about storms, food banks, and relief efforts. Whenphones are down, or over-burdened, text is the only communication

channel that has survived during disasters. The very elements that

comprise a text are, by nature, resilient. In fact, SMS was first developedto help the Armed Services communicate in a safer more secure manner

in war torn regions where communication infrastructure has beencompromised.

Alerts by Text are helping locate children who have been abductedthrough mobile Amber Alerts. Text messaging has helped Centers forDisease Control inform communities of new health risks, i.e. swine flu


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outbreaks, in an effort to keep our communities safer. During momentswhen every second counts, mobile phones are helping keep us all safer.Text based alerts offer the quickest most efficient method for gettingshort bursts of information to entire communities in a matter of seconds.

211 has expanded into nearly every community in the US making the

211 network ideally suited for text message based alerts and resourceprovisioning.

Communication Needs During Disasters:

September 11th tragedy and the more recent hurricane and oil spill

affecting the Gulf, has drawn attention to need for telecommunications toconnect people quickly and efficiently with help and community

information.The terrorist attacks created one of the greatest challengesthat the United States network of community information and referralproviders has ever seen. Evidence suggests that the enduring stress andtrauma of the tragedy has produced increasing incidences of substanceabuse, eating disorders, and domestic violence. For example, twenty-

three states have detected an increased demand for alcohol and drug

treatment since September 11th.

Immediately following the attacks, agencies offering crisis support serviceexperienced significantly higher call volume from families looking for

victims, individuals stranded in airports, frightened children andconcerned parents, individuals reliving other disasters, mentally illpersons feeling overwhelmed, and people looking for ways to give help.Crisis centers connected them with the appropriate organizations. In


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Atlanta, for example, calls increased 78% from the previous year. Callvolume continues to remain significantly higher than last year.

And recent trends are showing the demand for text message based

support services are reaching record levels.

SMS Crisis Alerts How Texting During Disasters Saves Lives

A UK report, Inclusion Through Innovation: Tackling Social ExclusionThrough New Technologies, explores the potential that Information andCommunication Technologies (ICT) have to improve service delivery and

quality of life for the most excluded groups, and argues that effective useof ICT is key to addressing exclusion and meeting complex needs. "For

instance, mobile phones are being used by homeless people to avoid theproblems of not having a permanent address, leaving a mobile numberon job applications. Medical results can be texted to the patient without

someone else answering the phone. And, individuals in rural areas, withlimited resources, are able to get the help they need through textmessage. The report, published by the Office of the Deputy PrimeMinister, argues that 'excluded' people already use technology extensivelyand that we need to build on this enthusiasm." In most cases, theyre

not using mobile phones by choice, but rather by necessity. Their phoneis their only link to community services.

In the US, the use of SMS during times of catastrophe or natural disasterhas proven to have an incredible impact. Phone lines, fax, and electricitycould fail and the only tool you can use is your cell phone1, said SAF

Spokesperson, Carla Shaw. For example, during and immediately afterHurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast of the United States, SMSwas the only mechanism available for much of the country to contact

those in the affected areas, due to the small amount of data that isrequired to send a text message.2 SMS messages are inexpensive and

easy-to-use and in recent years the mobile phones that are needed forsending and receiving them have become ubiquitous.

During natural disasters SMS and radio have been used to provideemergency communication, for example an earthquake Yogyakarta and

Central Java in Indonesia killed more than 5,000 people and displaced

1.6 million in May 2006. With support from Internews, a U.S.-basedNGO, a radio station and SMS text messaging provided news about relief

efforts.

1Txting Could Save Lives During Disasters: http://www.socialnetworks10.com/twitter-texting-could-save-lives-during-disasters2CNN Online News Report


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In addition to radio broadcasts, important information was sent andreceived from the newsroom via text messaging. Outgoing messageswarned of aftershocks and identified communities that had not yetreceived government assistance. More than 180 Indonesian journalists

distributed and received information through the service.3

A Canadian woman trapped under rubble after the recent earthquake inHaiti managed to send out a text message to the Foreign AffairsDepartment in Ottawa, a place nearly 3,000 miles away. And it saved herlife.4

And when the immensely strong earthquake occurred in Chile on Feb.27, 2010, SMS traffic for the carriers networks that were not initially

damaged surged to as much as ten times the normal hourly volumes forthe first 24 hours or so. We managed to get a voice call to them aroundnoon, Eastern, Saturday, but soon after that, were unable to reach them

due to network overload. For the rest of the day, we communicated viaSMS without issue.5

Homeland Security published an article in 2010, The UnprecedentedRole of SMS in Disaster Response, where they pose the question, what

if we could communicate with disaster-affected communities in real-timejust days after a major disaster like the quake in Haiti?6 211 Centers

are uniquely positioned to provide this level of service to the communitiesthey serve. What would 211 Based Text Alerts mean to governmentagencies like Homeland Security and CDC? Is the case for passing the211 ACT strengthened if 211 has the capacity and listserv to provide first

alerts to disaster affected regions, on behalf of Homeland Security?

CDC is also very interested in first response capacity in the wake of an

outbreak. With a single outgoing message, every mobile phone in theexposed region can be instantly and simultaneously alerted via text.

With a nationwide rollout of TXT211Alerts, 211 would be in theposition to offer agencies like CDC and Homeland Security,unprecedented capacity and access, the ability to send alerts withpinpoint accuracy to all locations affected by the disaster.

Relieving 911 During Disasters Non-Emergency Related Traffic

3Report, SMS and Radio can be powerful tools during Natural Disasters:http://comunica.org/radio2.0/archives/874Woman Trapped Under Haiti Rubble Sends SMShttp://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2010/01/025300.htm5Time Magazine, Online Edition: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1953379,00.html6Homeland Security Newswire: The Unprecedented Role of SMS in Disaster Response, February, 2010,http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/unprecedented-role-sms-disaster-response


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During a disaster, 911 will fail under heavy use, and 211 has beenshown to be extremely useful as an overflow solution, encouraging peoplewith non-emergency issues to call 211 during an emergency situation.

Recent disasters have taught us that 911 has the tendency of becoming

so bogged down from over-use, that the service is rendered virtuallyuseless. 211s reputation as an overflow for 911 during disasters issignificantly bolstered with text capacity. Texting has been shown tosurvive when telephone services are overburdened, or down. 911 iscurrently unable to support text messaging. In a perfect stormscenario TXT211 could become a sole source for relief efforts and links to

resources.

PPTMS and Crisis Support: Where TXT211 got its inspiration

After extensive training and system testing, Crisis Call Center, in Reno

Nevada, launched their pilot program, using PPTMS to deliver emotionalsupport via Crisis Textline service in 2009 to remarkable success. Insome cases, within hours of program launch, area residents were usingthe new services. There was a measurable correlation between placingmarketing materials (promoting the text line) in a pilot school, and same-

day pick up among individuals in the target population. Thedevelopment team and CCC expect to see similar results as the program

is rolled out to all schools, statewide.

SMS text messaging offers a timely and relevant mechanism for acquiringinstant help with complex social issues that threaten our communities,

across all ages and demographics. Simply put, texting is how the publicis choosing to communicate. The PPTMS system is not only giving thoseexperiencing feelings of distress and despair a new method of

communication to receive emotional support, but it is also enabling themto feel more at ease with the center staff due to the private nature of text.

The PPTMS technology, in conjunction with the TXT211 short code, isideally suited for 211 because it considers the individualized messagingneeds of each site as well as the macro messaging and routing needs of211 US.

What does this mean to your

211?

Adding text is a simple solutionthat will change how youconnect people to resources.With the addition of TXT211, your resources are instantly mobilized.


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TXT211 opens doors to grants for government and local initiativespertaining to group specific health programs, and disaster relief services.As a backup to 911, its imperative 211 maximize its reach across alldemographics. The TXT211 platform increases reach to many of the

most disadvantaged and difficult to reach groups e.g. youth,

hearing/speech impaired, homeless, and the millions of unemployedand/or temporarily displaced Americans. TXT211 will increaseoperator efficiencies, while decreasing missed calls. TXT211 supportsfully automated follow-up triages so that 211s can collect data requiredby their funders, without having to expend precious staff time. I&RSpecialists should be doing what they do best linking communities to

resources.

With the TXT211 platform you also have real people behind you. Wepride ourselves on our IT support. We also utilize Wiki developmentprotocols, so that your suggestions become real features in the system.

The TXT211 system was designed for 211s based on the functionalneeds of I&R specialists and the admin controls and data needs ofadministrators. But the improvements that make it a more perfectsystem come from 211 specialists that use it everyday.

.Key FAQs about TXT211 Services

TXT211 connects the public to resources in two critical ways throughoperator assisted I&R and automated regional alerts

The Short code TXT211 was provisioned with every mobile carrier inthe US and Canada

Carriers have provisioned TXT211 on their gateways to function in twovery specific ways, as 211 I&R and 211 Disaster/Health & Safety Alerts

TXT211 is provisioned as a standard rate7 public service short code

and is registered with the Common Short Code Administration as a

mobile communication service for individuals seeking 211 services

Not all mobile phones are able to call 211, but every mobile phone cansend a text to TXT211

7Shortcodes are either standard rate (where user only pays their standard rates per their textplan with their carrier) or Tarriff-based where end user is charged additional fees for the service,e.g. $3.99 will be charged to your wireless account


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Provides a lifeline for underserved populations including youth,hearing/speech impaired, homeless and/or temporarily displaced (wheretheir mobile phone is their only link to social services)

TXT211 is provisioned with inherent routing - each site is responsiblefor a specific set of zip codes (mirroring the structures already in placeunder 211 and United Way funding mechanisms)

TXT211 supports overlap coverage without duplicate responses

TXT211 bolsters the argument for the Call for 211 ACT by increasing211s ability to reach more individuals

TXT211 supports 211s primary aim to provide consistent service toanyone, anywhere, anytime (text messaging is the most versatile, durable

and consistent form of communication)

TXT211 is ideal for post disaster alerts, getting people connected withresources when it matters the most. Even when web and telephonesystems are down, text messages survive the most devastating disasters,

as witnessed with Katrina, Isaac, Sandy, and so many others.

For more information about the TXT211 Platform, text INFO to 898211(Standard msg&data rates may apply. Text STOP to opt out).Or call 805-653-6000.

Contact Information:

Jonathan Holly is Executive VP and Co-Founder of PPTMS Textlines

(Crisis Textline, Help lines and warmlines including TXT211 Info &Referrals, and Text Alerts) and a principle partner in the social

communications agency, Educational Message Services Inc.Contact: [email protected]

text during disasters

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