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"The Queen's County installs the latest hi-tech emergency alert warning
Added: (Thu Feb 03 2005)
The Royal County of Berkshire, home to Windsor Castle and the Atomic
Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston has installed the City Alert Texting
System,(CATS).
In times of emergency, this system allows Emergency Planners across the
county to send SMS text alerts to mobiles, email based alerts and
voice-text alerts to landlines within the relevant geographical area,
warning the public of critical situations from severe weather to security
alerts, e.g. suspected terrorist threats.
The system has an auto-response centre for the public to ring for
up-to-date information to follow on from the initial alert - this stops
conventional emergency landlines from getting jammed during or after an
incident, leaving the emergency services free to communicate unhindered
during critical situations.
CATS - launched in London in 2003 - has now been successfully piloted in
several regions and Berkshire is the latest in a growing number of counties
to install this hi-tech British-built emergency alert system.
As well as being able to alert the public, the system can alert businesses
and can be accessed by schools, colleges, hospitals, the utilities and the
emergency services to broadcast information and to communicate internally
and between departs.
West Berkshire Council's Prinipal Emergency Planning Officer,
Ros Baxter, who instigated the adoption of the system across the
county said
"We in Berkshire unitary authorities are pleased to announce that we have
adopted CATS. It is an exciting new development for us that will allow us to
rapidly alert our staff during a major incident and provide up to date information
and general advice to the general public, a new requirement under
the Civil Contingencies Act."
CATS company spokesman Adrian Gleave, said
"The Civil Contingencies Bill became an Act of Parliament on 18th November
2004 and this requires all U.K. Authorities, the Emergency Services and
N.H.S. bodies to put in place arrangements to make information available to
the public about civil protection matters and maintain arrangements to
warn, inform and advise the public in the event of an emergency by all
appropriate means.
Emergency planners in the Royal County of Berkshire have shown themselves
to be prepared for all eventualities and have vision by installing the CATS
set-up, it is better to plan ahead and be prepared, rather than waiting for
things to go wrong and then be caught without adequate tools to protect the
public.
Recently there have been critical situations around the world where the
CATS network could have proved a lifesaver had it been installed and we
have received a lot of interest from overseas, and hopefully, 2005 will see
others following the lead of forward thinking Emergency Planners here in
the U.K.
The system has been built to run on global platforms and can be up and
running anywhere in the World within a matter of weeks.
Next month, representatives from our company will be visiting the U.S. to
discuss the system with interested parties in Washington D.C."
Dr Chris Huntingford, a scientist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, said
"The CATS system broadcasts an automated message to all mobile phones. This
could provide the desired local warning system around the coastlines of
developing countries."
Eazytext Communications Ltd, who developed the hi-tech system with the help
of Government funding also sell emergency mobile phones for children, the
elderly and the disabled, and have recently launched the national
Childwatch and Community Network which enables all U.K. communities to have
their own SMS text messaging emergency alerting system for the protection
of children and as a tool in the "fight against crime".
Notes to editor:
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Current users of CATS: City of Brighton & Hove, Oxfordshire, Rutland
County, City of Wolverhampton,Denbighshire, Scottish Ambulance Service,
John Radcliffe Hospital, Merryhill Shopping Centre, Royal County of
Berkshire.
Relevant websites for the City Alert Texting System : www.cityalert.co.uk
www.cityalertusa.com
Eazytext Communications Ltd was formed after receiving grants from
mustard.uk.com which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund,
Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Advantage West Midlands.and the D.T.I.
Reference details for the emergency S.O.S. phone for children, the elderly
and the disabled at www.eazytrack.com
Reference details for the National Childwatch and Community Network at
www.textwatch.com