Text messages added to Dalhousie's emergency alert system
Halifax university latest to offer service
Dalhousie University in Halifax is using text messaging as a way to alert students and staff to an emergency.
The university will send a short message to anyone with a cellphone who signs up for the free service.
"This cellphone text messaging system is a way of getting a very short message of very few words out to a lot of people very quickly no matter where they are, so it's good when they're not on campus, if they're in their car or on the bus," said John Sherwood, executive director of computing services at Dalhousie.
Sherwood said the message could cover a range of scenarios, from a weather warning to a fire to a dangerous intruder on campus.
"The message might say avoid a certain building," he said. "The message might say go to the website for more information."
The text message is the latest addition to the university's emergency alert system, which includes using e-mail and the school's website.
Sherwood said it only takes a matter of seconds to type a message into his computer and send it to a cellphone. However, users have to register to become part of the system.
Second-year student Jillian Tonet plans to sign up.
"I think in the case of a really big emergency like a school shooting, for example, it would go a really long way," said Tonet, who always carries her cellphone with her.
Dalhousie is offering the service free of charge starting this week. Sherwood said he hopes all 20,000 people at the university sign up.
The University of Calgary implemented a similar text messaging system in September. The University of British Columbia also offers the service, but it had not been tested in January when there was a police lockdown of a building on campus following a threat.
Feed from cbcnews.ca
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