When fierce storms hit California in early January, submerging streets and felling power lines, Steve Livingston was prepared. Armed with a text message alert from the San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services, he dodged the flood and made it home safely.A few months earlier, when a surprise earthquake shook the region, Livingston, chief marketing officer of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based mobile transaction firm mBlox was in Los Angeles on a business trip. Alerted by a text message from the same service, he rushed to call his family back in Hillsborough, near San Mateo. "The pervasiveness of text messaging makes it one of the best ways to communicate to masses of people," he says.
Cell phones have long functioned as the front lines of emergency calling. As technology evolves and phones morph into ubiquitous, highly personal gadgets, they're becoming genuine safety devices, crammed with features designed to protect us from accidents and injury. Between flashlights, heart monitors, global positioning data and text message warnings, it's no exaggeration to say that cell phones can save lives.
Mobile alerts fit our increasingly wireless lifestyles. Americans send more than 48 billion messages each month, according to industry group CTIA-The Wireless Association. A consumer survey by software firm ACCESS and researcher Amplitude Research found that nearly 90% of cellphone users believe mobiles are important for communicating during an emergency or a crisis.
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