Being Alert in Case of an Emergency

The next time your phone beeps, it could be a text message that can save your life.

Santa Clara County officials gathered to announce a new text number, 32075, for AlertSCC, its emergency alert system. With the Japan earthquake and tsunami commanding attention, they wanted to encourage people to register, especially those who rely on cell phones exclusively. 

With more and more people toting cell phones and mobile devices—many in lieu of hard-wired land lines in their homes—the county hopes the new alert system will reach more members of the community. 

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan, flooding in Australia and the yearly wildfires in California all serve as reminders for Santa Clara County residents of how vulnerable they would be in case of an emergency and how crucial it is to have access to the right information and methods of communications.

But of the close to 1.8 million people in Santa Clara County—according to the California Department of Finance's analysis of 2010 census figures—only 26,000 people have registered for AlertSCC (Alert Santa Clara County), a system set up in 2009 to automatically send emergency notifications to hard-wired phone lines in the 411 and 911 databases, county officials said Monday. 

The feature also benefits residents who have a language barrier.

“You can sign up multiple locations," Kristin Hofmann, county Office of Emergency Services director, said at Monday's press conference where county and San Jose city officials gathered to promote and encourage people to register. "Your home, your kids' school and any other places you want.”

Based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), officials have found that 24.5 percent of American homes have only wireless phones.

This new initiative will work with mobile phones, but people must first sign up for the service.

To sign up, text "alertscc" plus your street name and zip code to 32075. You can also sign up for e-mail notifications at alertscc.com. The system will send notifications related to earthquakes, fires, crime incidents, hazardous material incidents and infectious disease information.

Residents will also receive messages that notify them about the location of shelters—or example, where to get medical assistance and food, and areas to avoid because of street closures and downed bridges.

In case of a local emergency, registrants will receive alerts from their city or the county, but if the emergency covers a whole region, they could receive emergency response information from both the city and county.

In today's mobile and interconnected communities, that's a plus.

"One of the nice features about AlertSCC is you don't have to be a resident to subscribe to it," said Los Altos police Capt. Andy Galea. "Maybe you don't live here, but your children go to school here, or you work here, or you have a parent who lives in town."

Also, he said, "When you sign up for it, you can really sign up for any city you want." He envisions police would use it locally for a local disaster such as a huge fire, where roads are blocked. 

"Knock on wood, we haven't had to use it here, but San Bruno is not much different than Los Altos," he said. "It's a very quiet community—then, all of a sudden, it became a disaster."

AlertSCC can not only let people know what is happening, but it can also reduce some of the calls that people make to police department to find out, he said. 

Right now, the system's messages are only in English, but there are materials about the system in multiple languages. The county has partnerships with several cultural groups to help with outreach to hard-to-reach populations.

“There are 385,000 Latino people in the county," said David Figueroa, consul general of Mexico in San Jose. The NHIS also noted that 30.4 percent of Hispanic and 25 percent of African-American adults live in households with only wireless phones. "We need to insure that the Spanish-speaking people can get the same information." 

Blackboard Connect, a private corporation, maintains the server and the names from the databases. Santa Clara County Emergency Services operates the system in coordination with the 15 participating cities. A grant pays for the system.

“The system is tested every week,” County Executive Jeffery V. Smith said.

The 15 cities involved in the AlertSCC include Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga and Sunnyvale.

For more information: alertscc.com.

—Additional reporting by Bay City News Service