Emergency Communications Network Participating in University Research Regarding Emergency Tornado Notification
Ormond Beach, FL (PRWEB) February 03, 2014 -- Emergency Communications Network (ECN), the nation’s largest provider of multimodal notification solutions, is participating in a new University of Missouri-Columbia research study regarding emergency tornado notifications. ECN has allowed the University to utilize their client base by selecting Douglas County, IL and the City of Palm Coast, FL because both communities were recently impacted by tornadoes.
ECN provides CodeRED emergency notification and CodeRED Weather Warning services to both communities, services that were credited for warning tens of thousands of residents before the storms hit. The survey will be open to residents in the impacted areas beginning Feb. 3, 2014, closing on Feb. 17, 2014.
According to the National Weather Service, Douglas County, IL was hit by a dangerous late season storm on Nov. 17, 2013, with a EF-3 tornado ¼ mile wide with peak winds of 140 mph and a path length of 15 miles. Less than one month later on Dec. 14, 2013, the National Weather Service confirmed a EF-1 tornado with maximum winds of 110 mph that touched down and crossed the northern sections of the city.
The survey will help researchers learn how residents and businesses in Douglas County, IL and Palm Coast, FL were notified of the tornado threat and what they did with the information in an effort to understand how people receive and react to emergency information. ECN anticipates many additional residents in both communities will enroll to receive future severe weather warnings through CodeRED Weather Warning, which is paid for by the individual communities and provided as a free service to citizens.
CodeRED Weather Warning technology, which is based on the National Weather Service polygon methodology, only contacts citizens in the path of projected weather, increasing relevance and reducing false alarms. CodeRED Weather Warning also uses heading and speed to determine the most vulnerable areas, notifying those most at risk first.
Results from the survey will be shared with the participating agencies in an effort to continuously improve emergency communication initiatives and outreach. The principal investigator for the research is Stephanie Meyers, graduate student at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
About Emergency Communications Network
Headquartered in Ormond Beach, Fla., Emergency Communications Network, LLC (ECN) has pioneered high-speed emergency notification services capable of reaching millions of citizens in minutes. ECN’s sophisticated network supports a Web-based product suite featuring six major services: CodeRED® which enables local government officials to communicate time-sensitive, personalized messages via voice, email, text messaging, sirens, digital signs, IPAWS and the CodeRED Mobile Alert app; CodeRED Weather Warning™ which provides automated alerts to citizens in the path of severe weather just moments after a warning has been issued by the National Weather Service; CityWatch™, a premise based, full featured outbound and inbound communication notification system; SmartNotice™, a streamlined notification solution for businesses; My Daily Call™ for scheduling calls to check on at-risk individuals, including the elderly, infirm and latchkey kids and Code-ED®, a high speed parent and staff notification tool for K-12 communities. For more information, click here.
Media Contact:
Stephanie Meyers
866-939-0911
Stephanie Meyers, Emergency Communications Network, http://ecnetwork.com/, +1 3869447269 Ext: 1178, [email protected]
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