When Disaster Strikes, a new Technology can Help People Stay in Touch

Utilizing the internet and various communication methods, a new technology ensures people, businesses, and municipalities can stay in touch during national emergencies, terrorism, and natural disasters.

Las Vegas, NV January 16, 2006 – One of the most harrowing things a person can think of is what would happen if a disaster of 9/11 or Katrina proportions struck their area. Would families know what to do or where to go? Would loved ones be able to stay in touch? What about a business or a municipality – could they alert all employees or citizens on what to do, and have a place where everyone can easily “check in”?

Until now, those questions were largely answered on an individual level as some forward thinking families and/or companies made their own plans. One would think technology could easily fill this need, especially once you consider that the internet and personal communications are intermingled (with the likes of Blackberrys and cell phones). But oddly enough, there has not been any service specifically designed to keep people in touch.

Until now, that is. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a savvy entrepreneur has created a service called ComAlert, which fulfills this obvious need.

In a nutshell, ComAlert is an internet technology designed to keep people in touch during times of national crisis (disasters, storms, terrorism, etc). The system is simple to use, yet extremely effective in keeping families, friends, and business associates in contact during the chaos of an unforeseen event. Samuel Anderson developed this technology on the backbone of another technology he created for businesses and employee screening. “I had created an online service called EmployAct, which was fundamentally a secure, opt-in people database that employers could use to find pre-screened candidates” says Anderson, “The basic essence of the system was for people and companies to opt-in and communicate with each other.”

After Katrina hit New Orleans, Anderson realized his system could have helped. “As I heard stories of people being separated and phone lines being inaccessible for weeks, I had this realization if there was a central online 'meeting place' for communicating, like the one I had already built, people could easily stay in touch - the city could communicate a message to anyone, and people and companies could communicate with each other, even if their personal e-mail or ISP was down.”

Anderson quickly went to work on his vision, and the result was impressive. “Essentially, I've created a simple to use yet extremely secure online communications portal. People simply go to www.comalert.com and create a free account. From there, they can link to other accounts, add their children to their account, set who will be contacted – all sorts of options, really” said Anderson.

Anderson doesn't forget businesses, or even cities for that matter. He states “We offer an option for businesses and municipalities both. ComAlert a great way for a business to keep track of and alert employees worldwide, and the benefit for a city is apparent. I've had calls from city officials just begging to sign up so their officials can be alerted whenever something of importance happens.”

Indeed. Sometimes, technology can be a wonderful thing.

About Samuel Anderson and ComAlert
Samuel Anderson is the owner of Tekbrokers VENTURES, LLC, which develops cutting edge products and puts patient, intelligent and experienced capital to work. ComAlert is the result of a marriage of vision and technology, and is the leader in emergency communications. To learn more, visit the ComAlert website at www.comalert.com.

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