Hackensack urges residents to sign-up for emergency notification systemFriday, March 8, 2013
BY JENNIFER VAZQUEZ
NEWS EDITOR
Hackensack Chronicle
To avoid a lapse in communication during emergency situations, much like events during and following Hurricane Sandy when communication and power sources were not functioning, Hackensack is asking residents to register for an emergency management information system.
Residents are urged to sign up for Nixle — a communications system that makes emergency information and data readily available through a variety of sources including SMS, mobile applications, email and web.
During the Feb. 19 council meeting, City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono addressed those in attendance about the emergency management system.
"The Nixle system is up and running but you must register for it," Lo Iacono said. "I urge residents to go online and register."
Nixle sign-up is free, allowing for all residents to register to receive timely updates in the case of an emergency situation, according to Lo Iacono.
"A number of other agencies have implemented this system," he said. "[They] are beginning to use it as an emergency management tool to notify residents and businesses in the community about, basically, whatever. Obviously with what happened with Sandy and needing to get information out was a big part of [Hackensack's decision to get Nixle]. It is a tool that has been made available, strictly to public entities, to use. It took a little bit of setting up here, but we are all set now, getting it out there and we are getting quite a good response to people signing on."
While the system is for the entire city, Lo Iacono said certain departments will use it more than others.
"Essentially, [Nixle] is for the entire city," he said. "But it involves, more specifically, police, fire and emergency management."
Though the system is for emergency situations, in an effort for information to reach the greatest number of people, non-emergency notifications will also be published from time to time.
"[Residents] will get emergency notifications," Lo Iacono said. "As well as other information of the non-emergency type. This is not only for emergency situations."
A link to register for Nixle can be found on the city's website:
www.hackensack.org.
Email: vazquez@northjersey.com
