Here are a few websites with news articles claiming that up to 20% of adult Americans are using apps during disasters and emergencies. Not surprising since we are in the dawn of the digital era…
- The Herald Online: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/08/31/4227680/more-americans-using-mobile-apps.html
- Mobi Health News: http://mobihealthnews.com/18402/red-cross-mobile-apps-for-emergencies-gain-in-popularity/
- NBC News: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/mobile-apps-help-hurricane-121270
Now here is a great clearinghouse, provided by the National Library of Medicine, that lists and links to dozens of disaster-related apps. The first on the list is my personal favorite, WISER, which allows you to load the app, type in the number oridentifier on a hazmat placard, and instantly have all of the critical information for initiating a response at your fingertips…
Whether you use an Android, an iPhone or iPad, a Windows Phone, or a Blackberry (no one I know uses Palm or webOS anymore), they have an app for you or you can access the same information from a mobileWeb enabled site. Heck, there are even PC versions of some of the apps. Apps like WISER don’t even require an active data connection while you are looking info up. The webpage versions, of course, do need a connection.
Be safe out there!