Emergencies are situations that are unexpected and often dangerous, posing an immediate risk to life, environment, health, or property and thereby requiring immediate and prompt action. Emergencies that might affect residents of a place might range from natural disasters such as flooding, fire outbreak, and earthquakes e.t.c to terrorist attacks, service outages, health emergencies or diseases outbreak, oil spillage, and so on.

To check these emergencies and provide adequate awareness and help for victims or prospective ones, the government has agencies in place equipped to handle this. Among these agencies are police services, armed forces, fire services, health bodies, and other relief sectors.

In the aftermath of events that pose risks to human life and property, or especially in cases of impending emergencies, proper general public awareness and guidance are needed. Here is how bulk SMS can be used to address this situation.

In cases of impending natural disasters such as flooding, residents of the endangered area need to be informed well on time of d impending danger if they are to save life and property. The first thing the government is most likely to think of is to get warnings out on the TV and print media. The question though is; "How many of these people will get the opportunity to hear it or read it through this means"? Very few, especially if the place affected is rural. Thinking of a faster and instant way of getting such across and confident everybody will. hear it? Bulk SMS is the answer. Bulk SMS is cheap to use, instant, and has more possibility of reaching lots of people. With this, casualties of such a crisis can be averted or controlled.

When there are cases of a nationwide epidemic like the Ebola outbreak which rocked the nation some times ago, people also need adequate awareness and real-time updates. Bulk SMS can also be a ready solution for such. Tips on how to protect oneself, how to prevent the spread of such diseases, and warnings about the current status can be easily pushed through SMS. SMS is a real-life saver in this regard.

In cases of insecurity also as insurgents or terrorists attack, bulk SMS can equally be used to manage this. Security tips can be sent through SMS. Another real-time update about the situation can also be sent through SMS.

Will there be an unexpected power outage running through a period? The masses deserve an explanation of why that is so and when to get it back. An easy way to do this is through SMS. A single and simple message will do. This will also apply to other services outage, offered by the government.

How about situations where life and environmental hazards come up like oil spillage in water dams? People have to know and be quick at that. Bulk SMS solves this dilemma effectively.

Since bulk SMS is a two-way communication thing, the masses can also use the service for feedback in assisting the agencies. See here how bulk SMS can be used by security agencies to curb criminal activities.

In the aforementioned and other areas, government agencies can easily dispense their duties using bulk SMS. It is interesting to know that many countries are already using it effectively in this respect. Nigeria also, though some agencies now use bulk SMS well, can do better.

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