About a week ago, the area around Post and Larkin was blocked off to traffic and MUNI was rerouted. I’m not really sure what happened, but I received a notice on both my cell phone and email letting me know to avoid the area, just in case I was heading that way. I still don’t know what the hell went on, but I knew to stay the hell away!

AlertSF is a great new text-based emergency notification service that sends emergency updates directly to your cell-phone or handheld device. During the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina, phones didn’t work, but text messaging did!

I won’t even begin to try to explain how texting works… I can’t even figure out the technology behind my phone working, (let alone how I hit “publish” and this blog is magically updated on the internet!) and I barely understand lightbulbs. But I do know that in an emergency, when most other communication methods fail, you are likely to be able to let your family know you are safe via texting.

AlertSF goes one step beyond regular texting between friends and can actually broadcast an emergency notice to every mobile and handheld device (and/or email address) registed with the system.

Registration is free. You can choose which devices you want to receive the notifacations, and even which neighborhoods you want to hear about in an emergency. I practically live in my car (ah, the exciting life of a San Francisco REALTOR®!), so I signed up to get alerts from every SF neighborhood because I never know where I will be (or where my family will be) in the event of an emergency.

Don’t hesitate! Register your mobile device today! You don’t know when the next emergency you need to hear about it coming!