The University’s emergency communications program comprises a robust system of diverse communications pathways, from text messaging to outdoor speakers to Twitter and Facebook. To learn more and enroll to receive emergency communications from the University. You can do so at http://www.uw.edu/alert
The centerpiece of the system is called UW Alert, which uses text messaging, email, Twitter and Facebook to inform people about an emergency situation as quickly as possible. The system is activated when there is a potential threat to people’s health and safety. UW Alert is an opt-in system that requires you to enroll through your mobile phone device, traditional phone line, or email Currently, over 50,000 individuals in our university community registering
120,000 devices are active on UW Alert. When an emergency occurs, they automatically receive a brief message to the device or devices they have registered. If you are not yet registered and wish to do so, or if you need to update your information in the system, you may easily do so by going to http://www.uw.edu/alert
Two other key elements of the emergency communication system are UW Outdoor Alert and UW Indoor Alert. As its name suggests, UW Outdoor Alert is an outdoor emergency speaker system–the blue towers you see on the Seattle campus–capable of conveying spoken messages to virtually all outdoor spaces on campus. This past year, the University installed a new voice-capable system that can reach almost all Seattle campus buildings, called UW Indoor Alert. These key elements are supplemented by notices to both the UW’s home page and to its Emergency Blog website, http://emergency.uw.edu These latter resources, while important in providing information during an emergency, do not have the benefit of rapid delivery and are considered supplemental to the primary emergency communications tools that comprise the UW Alert suite. During an incident, the emergency blog is updated regularly with information about the status of the event, and you are encouraged to check it regularly for the latest information.
