Twitter Alerts is launching in Australia today. The system has been available in the US, Japan and Korea since September, followed by the UK and Ireland in November, so it’s great to see Australia now added to the list. Australia is about to head into bushfire season over another seriously hot summer. With people’s lives on the line, getting accurate, up-to-date and location-based emergency information is critical to minimising any disasters.
Thanks to social media, there’s no longer a need to wait for hourly bulletins on the radio or TV, as the emergency services, government organisations and charities share critical information quickly via twitter. With the launch of Twitter Alerts in Australia today, it’s now easier for those organisations to get that critical information to the right people at the right time. It’s a new system which will be used by such public organisations as police and fire rescue services to send critical information to people during emergencies and natural disasters.
More than a dozen organisations have signed up to the Twitter Alerts programme to date, including every Australian state Police Force, several state fire services, the Red Cross, and key national and local government departments. The full list of participating public institutes and their Twitter handles for today’s launch includes:
- The NSW Rural Fire Service (@NSWRFS): Subscribe
- NSW Police (@nswpolice): Subscribe
- Victorian Police (@VictoriaPolice): Subscribe
- Queensland Police (@QPSmedia): Subscribe
- Western Australia Police (@WA_Police): Subscribe
- South Australian Police (@SAPoliceNews): Subscribe
- Australian Government’s travel advisory (@smartraveller): Subscribe
- The Department of Health (@healthgovau): Subscribe
- Fire & Rescue NSW (@FRNSW): Subscribe
- Country Fire Service South Australia (@CFSAlerts): Subscribe
- The City of Brisbane (@brisbanecityqld): Subscribe
- The City of Sydney (@CityofSydney): Subscribe
- The Australian Red Cross (@RedCrossAU): Subscribe
To subscribe just click on the relevant link above and you’ll get asked to text the word GO to a number which will authorize them to push SMS alerts to your phone. From that point you can subscribe to other accounts via the web without the mobile verification.
Please go and subscribe to the relevant services to your location now and those in areas you will travel to over the Christmas break. Also this is information you definitely want to share with loved ones and have them do the same. Getting emergency information pushed to your phone could save your life.
More information at https://blog.twitter.com/2013/twitter-alerts-come-to-australia
