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Philadelphia And 4 Local Counties Moving To New Emergency Notification System

By Mike Dunn

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia and the four suburban counties are phasing out their current emergency notification system for residents and they're inviting you to sign up for the new system.

The City of Philadelphia, along with Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester counties, are in the process of dropping 'ReadyNotifyPA' and switching to a new system for emergency notification to residents.

"As technology in this space evolves, we too are evolving our system." says Samantha Phillips, Philadelphia's Emergency Operations Director.

She says the new system has more capabilities.

"So in addition to sending email and text alerts, we also have the option to do voice alert, which is critically important for certain emergencies." said Phillips. "And we have also have the option to confirm receipt of the notification."

Phillips says when residents of the region sign up, they can also request notifications that are specific to a particular location.

"You could select your home, obviously, your place of work. You could also select the address of your child's daycare facility. So you receive notifications for those communities."

Phillips says the new ability to deliver voice recordings in emergencies is crucial for those who can't use text or email.

"The ability to send voice messages is critical, especially for reaching vulnerable populations, individuals with functional and access needs. That's not a capability that the previous system had."

The one downside to the change is that those who are currently signed up to ReadyNotifyPA need to re-register for the new system.

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but we have selected a better system." said Phillips. " And once people go through the slight headache of re-enrolling, we think that this will be a better system for emergency notifications."

Philadelphia residents can sign up at phila.gov/ready. Residents of the outlying counties should sign up for the new system at their county's website. soc

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