Emergency Alert Systems

Jules

Jules

SF VIP
They’re talking about adding an EA for earthquakes on the west coast. That would give us 1 to maybe 10 seconds. By the time I got my phone out, the shaking would have started.

If you have one where you live, do they have different sounds for different type of alerts. In the very few years we’ve had an EA system, it has only gone off once or twice for a missing child. When I have visited my daughters in another province, they went off twice in the short time I was there. They seemed to use them more often and people were ignoring the alerts.

I’m just curious if others have their alarms go off very often. I admit it scared the heck out of me, especially in the middle of the night.
 

I once had a land line phone. The only reason I had this phone because it was adapted with a signaling light that is on my that almost looks like a smoke detector and when someone would call the land line since I could not hear the phone ring this light would blink to alert me that the phone was ringing. I would then pick up my old TTY phone and communicate with that person who had called. This would also be the same way I would be alerted to emergency alerts which rarely ever happened. I also have a hearing person living with me in my daughter so I could always be easily alerted that way as well if need be.

Now with wireless cell phones being equipped with TTY technology the land line I once had is no longer needed. Alerts I now get from my phone come in a somewhat similar way, but through an app that lights the screen up and makes it blink. Now this is not 100% effective because what if an important alert comes in while I am sleeping. As for right now that is where my daughter who can hear still lives at home and can alert me if need be in an emergency. This will not always be the case. However, all of my neighbors know that I am deaf and I am assured they would look out for me in a real emergency situation.
 
Jules said:
@Silent Rose Have you ever considered a guide dog? A former neighbour who was hearing impaired (I don’t know how much) had a lovely black lab that was her aid.
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I do have a dog and even though she is not technically a guide dog she has been with my daughter and I for 6 years now and she knows of my disability. I am sure of that. She will use every other method other than barking to get my attention when needed for whatever reason and I imagine she would do so if danger was around in the house and I was unable to be aware of it.
 
1-10 seconds notice. You've probably spent that much time just clicking on this post and reading it. I'm not sure what good it is getting an "official" notification that you are in an earthquake, when the quaking earth is telling you the same thing. Hopefully this is at the dawn of earthquake science, and we'll get better at really predicting quakes.
 
We live in the middle of the country, on the fringe of "tornado alley". As such, we keep a weather radio turned on 24/7. NOAH sends a "test signal" to these weather radios every Wednesday at about 11AM. The sound and volume of that "test" would wake up anyone who has any level of hearing.
 
Sacramento has 3 types of alert systems, a super-loud horn in all the city sectors, phone texts, and loud-speaker helicopters. The horns are are for natural disasters and military and terrorist attacks and are always followed by the helicopters that give the public instructions about where to go. The texts are for fires, major power outages, missing kids, and "be on the look-out" for criminals on the run in your area. The last two are also always in tandem with the loud-speaker helicopters.
 
This is something that really concerns me being in the deaf community. In the case of a huge natural disaster or terrorist attack the main way to alert citizens is by SOUND alarms. Of course that would not work for my community. Texts are great, but what if this happens in the middle of the night while we are sleeping. I am certainly not checking my phone for texts at all hours of the night. I do know that friends and neighbors would keep a close eye on me if something like this happens, but there really needs to be something more I would think in place for the deaf and hearing impaired community.
 

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