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Friday, October 20, 2017

During emergencies: Information is essential

Beige-skinned hand holding a smart phone, open to text-messaging application that displays messages to and from '888777.' The first message, from the user, reads, '12345.' Below it, a reply message reads, 'Town: You are now signed up to recieve [sic] text alerts and advisories from the local police department'
Image credit: Nixle

During the past two weeks, I’ve faced an ongoing need for up-to-date and credible information about the California fires. Compounding this issue, I haven’t always been in places that had access to the Internet.

For reasons related both to credibility and to consistent access, I’ve relied upon government alerts via the Nixle communication service. To sign up, you simply text your zip-code to 888777.

Signing up with Nixle put me in touch with news alerts from Sonoma, Napa, and Lake County agencies, delivered via text messages to my mobile phone.

The messages include links to information on the Nixle website, but having those initial alerts via text made it easy for me to determine: is there something worth activating “data” on my phone or traveling to a place with Internet?

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