By now, we’ve all heard how the citizens of Hawaii were awoken on Saturday, January 13th with a (thankfully erroneous) alert telling residents to take shelter because of an incoming ballistic missile.
While the investigations and government hearings will continue, now that we’re a couple of weeks removed from the event, it’s important to take a step back and use this opportunity to crystallize several mass notification best practices.
A student missing after a catastrophic earthquake, a bus carrying students is involved in a fatal accident in an area with no cellphone connectivity, or a terrorist attack closes a major international airport – each of these realistic scenarios can quickly turn an exciting study abroad program into a personal and organizational crisis.