The Governor of New Hampshire has signed a law that will create a statewide notification program. The Governor's press release predicts the system will be functioning by the end of the year.
We applaud the effort, but as previously posted, we're wondering if the program is broad enough. It only covers telephone notification. We think reaching people by telephone is a good way to notify, but only one of the good ways to notify. Multiple modes work best. With only $600,000 authorized for the statewide program, perhaps telephone is all they can afford.
A couple of other things strike us:
What's the community outreach program going to look like? It becomes more clear every day that a strong outreach program is esstential for a successful alerting and warning program, particularly since success nowadays depends upon citizens indicating which communication mode they want to use.
And, we wonder if New Hampshire has plans to develop the system so that it ties into the national notification framework FEMA is developing (IPAWS: Integrated Public Alert and Warning System).
Don't get us wrong. We like what New Hampshire is doing. In fact, we'd like to see more names among the small number of states who've either implemented or actively working toward statewide notification initiatives. We just hope they'll work hard to address the issues that have evolved since the state first start working on this initiative several years ago.
All the best,
Rick
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We applaud the effort, but as previously posted, we're wondering if the program is broad enough. It only covers telephone notification. We think reaching people by telephone is a good way to notify, but only one of the good ways to notify. Multiple modes work best. With only $600,000 authorized for the statewide program, perhaps telephone is all they can afford.
A couple of other things strike us:
What's the community outreach program going to look like? It becomes more clear every day that a strong outreach program is esstential for a successful alerting and warning program, particularly since success nowadays depends upon citizens indicating which communication mode they want to use.
And, we wonder if New Hampshire has plans to develop the system so that it ties into the national notification framework FEMA is developing (IPAWS: Integrated Public Alert and Warning System).
Don't get us wrong. We like what New Hampshire is doing. In fact, we'd like to see more names among the small number of states who've either implemented or actively working toward statewide notification initiatives. We just hope they'll work hard to address the issues that have evolved since the state first start working on this initiative several years ago.
All the best,
Rick
