Cell broadcast trials in The Netherlands: Using mobile phone technology for citizens’ alarming

H.M. Jagtman

Reliability Engineering and System Safety, 2010, vol. 95, issue 1, 18-28

Abstract: In emergency situations authorities need to warn the public. The conventionally used method for warning citizens in The Netherlands is the use of a siren. Modern telecommunication technologies, especially the use of text-based features of mobile phones, have great potential for warning the public. In the years 2005–2007 cell broadcast was tested during several large-scale field trials with citizens in The Netherlands. One of the questions was to determine the penetration of cell broadcast for citizens’ alarming. This article argues that the definition of penetration in the light of warning citizens in case of emergencies should include the citizens’ responses to warning messages. In addition, the approach to determining the penetration, the data and validity issues regarding these data is discussed. The trials have shown cell broadcast has potential to become an effective citizens’ alarming technology. This however requires the entire technological and organisational chain of the warning system to function correctly. Attention is required to network management, handset improvements and correct communication to the public about the conditions under which a cell broadcast message can be received. The latter includes managing realistic expectations including circumstances in which cell broadcast will not reach a citizen.

Keywords: Emergency warning system; Citizens alarming; Cell broadcast (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0951832009001902
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:reensy:v:95:y:2010:i:1:p:18-28

DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2009.07.005

Access Statistics for this article

Reliability Engineering and System Safety is currently edited by Carlos Guedes Soares

More articles in Reliability Engineering and System Safety from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().