E-mail Alerts May Not Be Best Bet in Emergencies.

VIRGINIA Polytechnic Institute & State University ; EMERGENCY Communications Network Inc.

The articles reports on the insufficiency of electronic mail messages to inform people during emergencies in the U.S. It is stated that emergency notification systems that can push messages to cellular phones and fax machines have become part of the information technology (IT) infrastructure at organizations in the country. On emergencies such as the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, the school sent a campuswide electronic mail about the dormitory shooting, two hours after the incident. On the other hand, Bob Poe, president of Emergency Communications Network Inc., claimed that notification systems that tie in to phones are much more effective than electronic mail alerts.