Between the mudslides in California and both Hawaii’s and Japan’s false missile warnings, mass notification has been at the forefront of recent news. In California, Santa Barbara County officials decided not to send out emergency cellphone messages about the incoming flooding until it had already started, worried about the reception yet more notifications would get from residents who had just returned from evacuating their homes after wildfires. Unfortunately, at least 20 people have died and several are still missing as of this writing.
In Hawaii, the alert that a ballistic missile was headed toward the island was mistakenly sent out by a Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) employee, causing terror-stricken residents to seek shelter for an entire 38 minutes before they were alerted that it was a false alarm. The Japan snafu, which was posted on public broadcaster NHK’s website and sent out to cellphone users subscribed to the service, was chalked up to the incorrect operation of equipment and was corrected within five minutes.