Social Media A Must For Emergencies, Says Canadian Survey

Traditionally, emergency response teams only relied on telephone calls and emergency operators whenever they had to attend to persons in need. According to over half of Canada?s population, police and fire departments should get involved with social media and use the various social media instruments to respond to emergency calls and alerts. Many Canadians agree that emergency teams would be more effective and can work faster if they apply for electronic alerts during emergency situations. A poll was instituted by the Canadian Red Cross (@RedCrossCanada) where 1,000 Canadians were consulted via Ipsos Reid the last summer. Sixty-three percent of the respondents said that the need to use social media networks is important. Emergency teams and units should be ready to take calls and alerts asking for help and support via posts on social media sites. According to a release, individuals today rely on social media networks to communicate and provide important information. The Canadian Red Cross indicated that websites like Twitter and Facebook can be very useful platforms that will successfully give emergency teams quick details to protect injured parties and save lives. About one-third of Canadians agree that emergency teams would respond to requests posted on social media networks. About 75 percent depend on the possibility that help will come in under one hour. Just over one-half of the surveyed indicated that they will use a variety of approaches to offer information on their status and let others know that they were safe during emergency situations through social media sites. Getting information during emergency cases is still done using conventional methods via radio and television. About one-third indicated that they like to get the news from new methods via mobile phones and social media websites. As for the emergency units, around 50 percent said how they?re willing to register for electronic alerts to immediately act on emergency calls. However, they are more inclined to get information on the search for medical services, instead of preparedness information. Many Canadians are also still quite complacent and don?t believe that major disasters might happen in their location. About two-thirds are not prepared or choose not to prepare for possible emergencies. About 21 percent never even contemplated on the idea of getting ready for emergency situations and 12 percent indicate that they don?t have the time to get ready. Do you think social media platforms are effective for emergency situations? Let us know in the comments!