Boston College's Emergency Management Team will conduct the first test of its emergency notification system today. At approximately 2 p.m., text messages will be sent to the cell phones of more than 14,000 students, faculty, and staff who submitted their numbers through Agora over the past year.
On March 12, an e-mail from Executive Vice President Pat Keating was sent to all members of the BC community informing them of the test.
"Over the past year, the Emergency Management Team has worked hard to implement a notification system that will deliver emergency information to members of the BC community as quickly and accurately as possible," Keating said.
The University purchased the system last year in the wake of the tragedies at Virginia Tech, along with many other colleges and universities throughout the country.
BC selected 3n (National Notification Network) as the vendor to provide the service. The network offers text messaging, and voice and e-mail capability.
The test, however, goes underway at a time when many other systems in use across the nation have failed. Nationally, the success rates of these emergency notification systems have hovered between 40 and 80 percent, with all colleges and universities facing complaints of undelivered or delayed calls. BC administraors are, therefore, anticipating small problems with the system during the test. "The reality is that in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, emergency notification vendors jumped at the opportunity to provide a service that they were not prepared to deliver," said Vice President for Information Technology Marian Moore."In some cases, emergency messages have gone undelivered because the recipients are in an area where the cell signal is weak or because they have a prepaid cell plan."
Additionally some messages fail to be delivered due to the large volume of spam-related text messages. BC also named John Tommaney, a senior manager with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, the director of emergency management and preparedness. "John Tommaney clearly distinguished himself from a talented pool of applicants," Keating said. "He brings great experience, know-how and management skills to this new position, the importance of which has been underscored by recent natural disasters, and the tragic events on college campuses this past year." Tommaney has extensive experience in all facets of emergency management, including preparedness, response, and recovery and business continuity. Tommaney will lead an emergency management team that has been preparing the University for emergency situations for five years. The team has most recently been led by Keating. Representatives from the BC Police Department, Facilities Services, Operations, Information Technology, Public Affairs, Residential Life, Environmental Health and Safety, and representatives of the president's and provost's office have served on the team. The University is in the process of constructing an Emergency Operations Center and finalizing a comprehensive emergency and recovery plan. "While no system is perfect, we believe that our notification vehicles and the experienced leadership that we will soon gain when our recently hired Director of Emergency Management and Preparedness John Tommaney comes on board later this month will enable us to be in the best possible position to respond effectively to an emergency situation," Keating said.
Spring Break
