AlertSeattle: Get important local notifications on your phone
What is AlertSeattle?
If you live in Seattle, one great service to sign up for is the AlertSeattle system. AlertSeattle is a free service used by the City of Seattle to communicate with city residents during emergencies, or to deliver information regarding city services and conditions that may impact residents. These can include notifications about severe weather, safety, health, utility disruptions, major traffic incidents, and more. Alerts are sent via text message, email, voice message and posted via social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
When a situation develops that meets the requirements for alerting to the public, the relevant information is sent out in an alert to the affected area(s). Alerts can be sent out to all those in Seattle who have opted-in to the system, or to a particular area or neighborhood for more location-specific events.
Why should I use AlertSeattle?
AlertSeattle provides a potential backup for our dispatch centers. In a major emergency the 911 call center can be inundated by a large number of calls from citizens requesting information. Most of the 911 calls received during these emergencies do not relate to situations that are life-threatening. In delivering alerts directly to citizens on via mobile devices, the public will stay informed while hopefully reducing the volume of 911 calls from residents who do not require emergency services. By making public information readily available, we can increase the emergency call center’s effectiveness in responding to critical emergencies. Enrolling in the service is easy - just go to https://www.smart911.com/smart911/registration/registrationLanding.action and register.
Are there any resources for non-English speakers?
For those Seattle residents who may not speak English as their primary language, there are flyers available in several other languages (as well as in English). Links to download copies of these flyers are listed below.
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Published on February 13, 2017