The Village View

Monday, April 27, 2009

NYC Emergency alert text/email system seen lacking

It appears that Air Force One was buzzing around lower Manhattan and northern NJ this morning as part of a photo op. Problem is, lots of folks in that part of the City hadn't heard about the exercise and got worried. 

“People came pouring out of the buildings, the American Express Building, all the buildings in the financial district by the water,” said Edward Acker, a photographer who was at the building, 3 World Financial Center. “And even the construction guys over by 100 North End Avenue area, they all got out of their buildings. Nobody knew about it. Finally some guy showed up with a little megaphone to tell everyone it was a test, but the people were not happy. The people who were here 9/11 were not happy.”

Check out this video and listen to what the woman says.

New York City is piloting something called "Notify NYC" which is described as "a new service designed to enhance the delivery of emergency information to the public." Problem is that according to the Times, the "text messages and e-mail messages explaining the flyover were sent out at 10:38 a.m., after the exercise was already scheduled to end. "