If you live anywhere near the Atlantic or the Gulf of Mexico, you know that along with the sun and fun of summer comes the constant eye cocked towards the horizon, waiting for the inevitable storm to appear. Even a near-miss can bring a LOT of excitement and a direct hit might be as life-threatening as we ever see during our lifetimes. The most important factor in successfully dealing with the huge Atlantic tropic cyclones generated by the hot sun and the warm ocean waters is preparation. And crucial to that preparation is information and planning. It’s really hard to purchase gas cans, batteries, non-perishable foods, etc. when you are behind the information curve and store shelves are already bare! In fact, that close to a storm is totally the wrong time to begin preparations. However, that’s a whole different story. For several years, living on the Gulf Coast of the US, I have relied on technology to give me a heads-up as far out as possible so that I can prepare, change plans, and make that crucial decision of evacuate or stay put as needed. I want to introduce you to some of the top contenders in mobile applications to help you do this.
Your Local News
One of the great things that I learned early on is to rely on my local new organizations. In my case, I subscribe to free alerts from Click2Houston.com, the Internet arm of a Television broadcaster in Houston. I get reliable and continuous updates when ANYTHING threatens my home area: heat, rain, flooding, thunderstorm, hurricanes and tornados. This is always my first line of defense.
Disaster Alert
Disaster Alert (by PDC) – Current global disaster info on an interactive map
Disaster Alert (by PDC), Active Hazards on an interactive
map and in a list as they are occurring around the globe.
Additional hazard information can be viewed and shared.The term “Active Hazards” refers to a collection of current and real-time incidents (compiled from authoritative sources) which have been designated “potentially hazardous to people, property, or assets” by the PDC DisasterAWARE™ application.
The application is a free download.
PDC Active Hazards currently includes:
-Hurricane/Tropical Cyclone (global)
-Earthquake (global)
-Flood (global)
-National Weather Service High Surf (for Hawaii)
-National Weather Service High Wind (for Hawaii)
-National Weather Service Flood (for Hawaii)
-Manmade (global)
-Marine (global)
-Storm (global)
-Tsunami (global)
-Volcano (global)
-Wildfire (global)- coming soon!Other hazards will be added over time.
Application features include:
√ View Active Hazards on an interactive map or in the Alert list
√ Search for location (quick zoom)
√ Choose background map
√ Get “more info” for most Active Hazards
√ Receive automatic updates every five minutes
√ Choose a preferred time zone
On a broad scale, I like to know what events are happening around the world that might spread to me and my loved ones. I happened upon an app a couple of years ago that keeps track of all this and gives it to me in a format that is easy to glance at or dig into, if the need arises. This app is available in the Android Market.
