Aussie Government smartphone app provides disaster information

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 11 December 2011 10:14

Your IT - Mobility

The Australian Government has developed a free iPhone & Android app that will enable smartphone users to get quick and easy access to information about emergencies and disasters across the country.

The app is available from iTunes and Android Market. According to its web page, "In the following months, the project team will engage with the community and the emergency management sector to gather feedback and ideas for new versions of the app."

At present the app displays a long list of 'incidents' that would not classify as disasters and does not provide any direct alerts to users about disaster situations. Since details of these incidents contain some location information a highly desirable upgrade would seem to be prioritised information that takes into account the location of the phone or a location specified by the user and issues an alert for any disaster in that area.

The app was launched by attorney general, Robert McClelland, at the 12th Australian Safer Community Awards ceremony in Canberra. He said the DisasterWatch app would give users access to the latest public information about disaster events via direct feeds from a range of authoritative state, territory and national sources.

"The Government saw developing this product as a priority given the growth of [the smartphone] market particularly among younger Australians and an increasing reliance on the Internet and social-media for information."

He added that, in addition to making it quicker and more convenient to seek information in a crisis another important benefit of DisasterWatch was that its use would reduce unnecessary calls to triple zero during a disaster.

"Nearly half of all calls to Triple Zero are non-urgent calls and when a disaster happens, calls are often requests for information about the disaster," he said. "If more people use resources like DisasterWatch we can reduce unnecessary calls to Triple Zero and keep this important service available for emergencies."