Many schools in the Australian Eastern States today were
inundated with calls wanting to know whether schools would be open and or was
it safe to send children to school.
Strong northerly winds brought in a cloud of thick red dust
from the interior deserts which blackened Sydney metropolitan and surrounding
areas and as far up the coast as Brisbane.
Many health authorities warned of serious effects this
concentration of dust would make on people with asthma and other respiratory
problems and in particular what to in the instance of schools closures and or
mass warning messages to children’s parents and caregivers.
“New South Wales Health warned children, elderly people and
those with heart and lung conditions to avoid outdoor activities, and
recommended all vigorous physical activity should be minimised” Reported Nine
MSN.
Schools equipped with an online school SMS system could
activate from the homes of the emergency manager and or school principal and
broadcast via their online system a personal SMS message that advised parents
of pending circumstances and or closures that affected their school.
Parents and caregivers would also have the opportunity to
inform the school with a reply if any children would not be attending that day.
The school SMS service collated and recorded the responses for the school
records and information.
Such a service not only informs parents of the status quo it
also allows them to provide information to the school.
Many parents mistook the red dust for fires, some 400
triple-zero calls were made to Emergency Services that morning.
Peter Cap from “EAARS” the Emergency Alert Action Response
System, school SMS service said, “With the EAARS system in place schools can
even send out pacifying messages just informing the community of what is
occurring. This calms the community in such times of crisis when information is
highly sort after and can otherwise be easily distorted.”
“EAARS has the capability to broadcast personalised SMS
messages to any or all sections of the school community quickly and efficiently
in times of crisis and is specifically designed for school application”, Peter
Cap continued.
For more information on the EAARS school SMS service please
refer to the website www.eaars.net or call
Peter Cap direct on 1300123767 or email admin@eaars.net.
