Trinidad and Tobago and [Insert Your Country Here] Needs Emergency SMS

Submitted by Taran Rampersad on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 08:26

Imagine being trapped under some rubble with only a mobile phone for company. You could be hurt, bleeding, hungry, dehydrated or any combination of the above. If the mobile infrastructure is even partially intact, calling people on the phone would be limited by the likely overload of the mobile system. But SMS messages get queued. They also drain less battery life which, if you're stuck, could be very important in saving your life or the life of someone you love.

Imagine a SMS equivalent of an emergency number (like 999, or 911) you could send a text to - where the right people could get your message quickly. And they could get to you and those you care about more quickly. Simple, isn't it? 

As I mentioned on KnowProSE.com, Haiti now has the number 4636 for emergency SMS messages . It was set up after the fact by a group of volunteers because it was of use in communicating after the earthquake. The mobile phone infrastructure seems to have survived, at least to a noticeable degree. It's under very similar circumstances that one of my own abandoned projects, the Alert Retrieval Cache, was constructed after the South East Asian tsunami. It's basically the same thing - and it's a good idea that keeps popping up independently all over the world. I've even seen it done by UWI students for a contest last year - and they had no idea about the Alert Retrieval Cache concept. Here's a diagram for the reading impaired.

It's just a good idea that has a lot of different owners. Or, as I'd like to think of it, it has no owners. Myself and others see how solid the idea is, but it never seems to be implemented. The technology exists. Unfortunately, the concern never seems to exist until afterwards.

But if people knew about the SMS number beforehand, they would know who to direct their text messages to. Even outside of disasters, such a number could be very useful for law enforcement, fire departments and emergency services: there are many instances when a voice call might not be possible.

So why doesn't one exist? Well, it's because citizens haven't asked their nation for one.

The best suited for setting up and advertising such systems are really the mobile service providers - in Trinidad and Tobago, that would be bMobile and Digicel. Even if they don't maintain the service themselves, they could offer it to the government of Trinidad and Tobago. Conversely, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago could ask the mobile providers for such.

It's really so simple for a mobile service provider to set up, there's no reason for it not to be set up and the public educated before a disaster. It doesn't have to be expensive (though, unfortunately, the government of Trinidad and Tobago would probably be impressed with a hefty price tag). It could save the lives of mobile service customers, so it could be looked at as maintaining marketshare for the bean counters.

And for the people who actually care about people... it could save lives and improve the quality of life of people. And it would work best if it's set up beforehand instead of afterward.

So why not ask your government and/or mobile providers to provide this service?

 

Blog: 
Trinidad and Tobago
bmobile
Haiti
disaster
SMS
emergency
emergency response
digicel

Comments

Submitted by Edmund Gall on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 10:57.

... Do you write letters to the local papers or would you like me to?  I have nothing to add to your text, and it would be best coming from you since interested bmobile/digicel/government/press-staff readers could contact you for details of your experience in setting it up (or contact UWI, or just discuss it amongst themselves and implement).

Also, I remember either reading about or hearing a radio interview of someone representing deaf people in T&T asking the police to setup an SMS alternative for 999 (and 990?) for deaf people to use in emergencies.  This was since last year, if not before.  You're stating the clear case for everyone to have it, which may finally get someone who's been ignoring the deaf community to act.

Extending your idea, bmobile/digicel should allow folks to send emergency SMS to 999 (and 990) and have it automatically routed to the same emergency desk?  So folks won't have to know two different (or four) numbers for emergencies (in fact, I never understood why there has to be a separate number for fire in this century - it's time to get rid of 990 and just have 999).

In terms of views against, with idle minds and loads of free bundled text messages, I can see an avalanche of prank SMS initially.  However, unlike prank calls, which can be made from payphones, SMS messages must originate from a private cell. So to prevent pranksters from crippling the system, bmobile/digicel could just facilitate the disabling/cancelling of a cell number if two or more prank messages are received (and prosecution of a few exemplary idiots early on to send a message).

Submitted by admin on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 19:14.

I guess I could write a letter to a newspaper. But... it seems so... mundane...

Submitted by Global Voices O... (not verified) on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 11:33.

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Submitted by Global Voices O... (not verified) on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 18:01.

[...] an earthquake isn't such a good idea). Trinidadian Taran Rampersad, writing at KnowTnT.com, argued for the implementation of emergency SMS (short message service) systems, to make communications [...]

Submitted by Caribbean: Rea... (not verified) on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 19:06.

[...] an earthquake isn’t such a good idea). Trinidadian Taran Rampersad, writing at KnowTnT.com, argued for the implementation of emergency SMS (short message service) systems, to make communications [...]

Submitted by Caribbean Innov... (not verified) on Thu, 01/21/2010 - 11:08.

[...] 2010 by Taran Rampersad It wasn't too long ago that I was waxing poetic about innovation. Even my last post about the need for an emergency SMS system for nations is a good lead in to the Caribbean Innovators [...]

Submitted by Trinidad and To... (not verified) on Fri, 01/22/2010 - 08:29.

[...] 22, 2010 by Taran Rampersad I had written previously about the need for Trinidad and Tobago and other nations to have an emergency SMS system in place pri.... I tweeted it, I tossed it all over Facebook, and I spread the word otherwise as did [...]

Submitted by Caribbean: Rea... (not verified) on Tue, 01/26/2010 - 20:39.

[...] an earthquake isn't such a good idea). Trinidadian Taran Rampersad, writing at KnowTnT.com, argued for the implementation of emergency SMS (short message service) systems, to make communications [...]

Submitted by Global Voices A... (not verified) on Mon, 03/22/2010 - 03:36.

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Submitted by Miyaka on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 09:42.

In our area, people die in accidents. We have a small hospital here but in more serious cases we have to travel 3 hours to get to a good hospital. Aside from that, during emergencies, it takes too long for the victims to get help because there is no 911 or something like that in our area. I am a member of a civic group which aims to have that kind of emergency facility. I hope that it willbe impemented here.

from Miyaka of

Tongkat Ali