PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Public Alert Notification System (PANS) that allows emergency alert information to be shared nationwide has been officially launched by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM).
PANS will aim to caution citizens about current or impending emergencies which may face the country and disasters such as floods.
During a recent press conference, the ODMP’s Operations Manager, Dennis Marcelle, explained how PANS would work.
” Through our day-to-day operations, the ODPM will look at these various pieces of information which come to us, we assess the situation, and then based on the level of threat perceived, we can generate an alert through this system through multiple platforms,” he said.
The launch occurred the same day when the country’s entire school population was panicked and confused as bomb threats were sent to schools via mass email.
National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, who also spoke at the launch, said such a warning measure would not only be of tremendous importance to the public, but it would also ensure that the correct information is disseminated and, therefore, save valuable resources.
“Putting false information into the atmosphere and creating chaos, confusion and panic and a waste of police, prison, fire and the ODPM’s and other resources in a time when we can least afford it,” Hinds said.
ODPM’s CEO Rodney Smart also advised people to download the Public Alert Notification System (PANS) app to receive alerts.
He explained the difference between the app and other instant messaging is that with PANS. The notification can be location specific and not nationwide.
Smart further noted that the system, which costs ODPM TT$400,000 annually, is backed by the Everbridge app, which is also used in New York and other major cities and has been used by local agencies without problems.
and then  that allows emergency alert information to be shared nationwide){kind=link}