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New Technology Assists With Evacuee Tracking |
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 Recently the Galveston County Office of Emergency Management hosted a training exercise to learn about the new Special Needs Evacuation Tracking System or SNETS. This system employs a combination of RFID, GPS and bar-code technology, and was designed to simplify and automate the evacuation process of elderly, sick, disabled or able-bodied individuals who have no access to transportation during an emergency. SNETS was deployed to help the Governor’s Division of Emergency Management (GDEM) evacuate over 34,000 residents during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
In addition to the emergency management personnel present at the training, over 30 volunteers in Galveston County took time out to spend the day becoming familiar with SNETS. Members of the group took turns role-playing as data entry assistants, bus loaders, or evacuees in order to get practical experience in the application of the system. At the end of the training, participants were confident in their ability to utilize the system assist in the evacuation of Galveston County residents should the need arise. |
