Christchurch Earthquake

1 March 2011

SMS Alerts and Evacuation Assistant Tools

For the first time since their deployment the WhosOnLocation Evacuation Assistant tools were used in a major disaster. Minutes after the first earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand WhosOnLocation customers activated their Evacuation Reports, Evacuation Buddy, and SMS Head Counts sending vital information to their nominated people about which employees, visitors, and contractors were onsite, their mobile numbers, and in some instances their In Case of Emergency numbers.

Whilst always hoping these tools would never be used company spokesperson Victoria Armstrong said "for 20 minutes after the earthquake we proactively activated every SMS Head Count alert in the Christchurch region. It was not until a few days later when customers phoned us to thank us for doing so that we could reflect on how important is it for organizations to know who is onsite at any time".

Immediately after the quake WhosOnLocation posted a message on their login screen advising all users to call them if they needed to know who was onsite. "This was critical support we could offer our customers as many did not have time to activate their Evacuation Assistant tools and/or did not have access to the internet" says Victoria Armstrong.

For more information, please contact:
Victoria Armstrong, WhosOnLocation
victoria@whosonlocation.com
(Outside New Zealand) +64 4 460 5218
(New Zealand Only) 0508 53 53 53