| State of Texas to use RFID in new evacuation management system
The GDEM is responsible for assisting cities, counties and state agencies in planning and implementing their emergency-management programs as well as carrying out a comprehensive, all-hazard emergency-management program for the state. Under the terms of the contract, AT&T will serve as the primary provider and deliver wireless RFID service to support a statewide emergency-evacuation tracking system. The tracking system, which was successfully deployed in 2006 and 2007 during state evacuation simulations, will help safely evacuate citizens in the event of any large-scale man-made or natural disaster. In the event of an emergency evacuation, evacuees will be registered on-site and issued a bar-coded RFID wristband. An evacuee's wristband will be scanned by the GDEM with a wireless device as the evacuee boards a state-contracted vehicle, and the information will be added to the bus boarding log. Evacuee intake information and location will then be sent wirelessly to The University of Texas Center for Space Research data center. The vehicles will be equipped with GPS systems to track the location along the evacuation route. Upon reaching the destination, the system will update evacuee profiles and provide real-time information. This will enable state employees to respond to inquiries from the public about the safety of evacuated family members and to reunite families that have been separated during a large-scale disaster. Rugged hand-held computers from Motorola Inc. will be used for the enrollment and tracking of evacuees throughout the process. In addition, Motorola bar-code scanners and RFID readers will be used in the registration and final destination check-in process for evacuees. "We wanted to enhance our existing emergency evacuation planning strategy with a new system for tracking and locating evacuees," said Jack Colley, chief, Texas Governor's Division of Emergency Management. "We are confident that the statewide emergency-evacuation tracking system will not only help save lives and effectively ascertain the location of the displaced citizens, but it will also provide the state with the ability to update the families of the evacuees and effectively allocate search-and-rescue resources. The RFID solution will improve the GDEM's command and control management of large-scale disasters within the state by enabling officials to efficiently allocate valuable emergency resources." http://www.att.com/stateandlocal
•Date: 4th Dec 2007• Region:US •Type: Article •Topic: Emergency planning
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