Other Emergency Notification Systems

Effective communication is one of the major challenges in emergency management. Emergency notification and communication extends far beyond the need for emergency responders to be able to communicate with one another. Instead, the issue is complex and involves all constituents—responders, decision-makers, support personnel and individuals affected by the emergency event. Communication before, during and after emergencies is critical. Redundancy is important because at any given time, one or more of the communication methods may fail.

During emergency situations, telephone lines will be congested, often impeding critical use by victims and emergency responders. Therefore, when emergency alerts are issued, you are encouraged to refrain from using your office or cell phone except to call for emergency assistance. For large scale emergencies, updates will be posted on the UGA Web site. Whenever possible, use email to communicate with relatives to alleviate concerns about your safety.

Currently UGA communicates with students, faculty and staff before, during or after emergencies in the following ways:

• UGAAlert, the University’s primary emergency notification system (See http://ugaalert.uga.edu/)
• Outdoor emergency sirens activated by Athens-Clarke County for tornado warnings only (to hear the sound emitted by the weather sirens, click here) 
• Campus-wide email system (able to send messages to approximately 50,000 individuals in 20 minutes to one hour)
• AM radio station WQFL (1650AM) maintained by the UGA Police Department
• NOAA weather radios located in many UGA buildings
• Telephone trees (in which assigned individuals call others with emergency messages)
• UGA-specific crawler messages on all TVs subscribed to University Cablevision (including offices and residence halls)
• Loud speakers on UGA police vehicles