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Alert system unveiled
(Published July 12, 2004)

A new system will allow city officials to notify residents by phone, e-mail or pager when an emergency requires people to evacuate an area or seek shelter.

The system, called AlertDC, will allow the D.C. Emergency Management Agency to select a precise geographic area in the city, when necessary, to deliver emergency instructions by calling residential and business telephones in the area.

Officials said the system will be modified in the future to allow cellular telephone numbers to be registered, along with most home and business phone lines that are automatically included in the system.

Residents also may enroll online at www.dc.gov to receive emergency instructions via a text-capable device – such as a cell phone, pager or personal digital assistant (PDA) – or via e-mail.

The new notification capabilities are part of enhancements being made in the District and Maryland to the Emergency Alert System, a long-time partnership between government and local news media outlets that was created to covey emergency instructions to citizens. New equipment will allow government officials to transmit emergency information simultaneously to numerous radio and television stations, rather than one at a time, and to the National Weather Service for broadcast over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's weather alert radio system.