Sign up for University of Maryland Alerts

CynthiaL — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:52:42 +0000

Students, faculty, staff, and citizens living near the University of Maryland College Park campus may register for free alerts issued by the University. These alerts may affect the campus and / or the surrounding communities.

What is UMD Alerts?

UMD Alerts is a software application used to send emergency alerts, notifications and updates to your cell phone, pager, BlackBerry, PDA and / or e-mail account. In the event of an emergency such as a fire, tornado, campus closing, a Virginia Tech or September 11th-type attack, important alerts and updates will be sent right to your cell phone or mobile device. All you have to do is sign up for a UMD Alerts account. (UMD Alerts is a free service offered by the University of Maryland. Your wireless carrier may charge you a fee to receive messages on your wireless device.)

What types of alerts will be sent?

Alert types may include life safety, assaults, fire, weather, accidents involving utilities or roadways, team activation notifications, or disaster notification such as a terrorist attack, tornado, hurricane, and more. A few examples of the types of messages that can be sent through UMD Alerts are:

Emergency Situations:

Notify employees, and / or citizens of the location of the nearest emergency shelter, available bed space, hours of operation during a crisis
Notify employees / citizens of available evacuation routes during an emergency
Activate special teams within the community, based upon an event

Precautionary Warnings:

Severe weather warnings
Change in the Homeland Security Advisory System terror alert level
Pre-cautionary evacuation order if on high alert

How to Register

Register online at https://alert.umd.edu/index.php
New users may also register by sending a text message to 411911 keyword: UMD. Click here to read SMS Terms of Use.

For more information about the UMD Alerts, see https://alert.umd.edu/faq.php

Nixle Alert System

CynthiaL — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:05:26 +0000

Nixle is a community information service that provides communities throughout the country with news and information that is both local and personally relevant. Citizens can subscribe to the "hyperlocal" content service, where they can receive real-time information from their local police department, fire department and mayor. Reports can be provided through SMS, Web, and e-mail distribution.

Sign up for Municipal and Community alerts for neighborhoods in and around Adelphi, Maryland at the Nixle Alert System site: http://local.nixle.com/city/md/adelphi/. This URL includes alerts for the following Zip codes: 20705, 20740, 20782, 20783, 207HH, 20903, 20912.
Adelphi, MD area map

Neighborhoods included are:

* Autoville
* Calvert Hills
* Cherry Hill
* College Heights
* College Heights Estates
* College Park Woods
* Cresthaven
* Crystal Springs
* Downtown College Park
* Hillandale Forest
* International Corridor
* Knollwood
* New Hampshire Estates
* Northwest Park
* Oakview
* Old Town
* University of Maryland-College Park
* Whitehouse

(Somehow they left the name of our neighborhood out of this list!)

Cities included:

* Adelphi
* Beltsville
* Chillum
* College Park
* Hillandale
* Hyattsville
* Langley Park
* Riverdale
* Riverdale Park
* Silver Spring
* University Park
* Washington
* White Oak

On the Municipal Wire, you’ll get alerts for Traffic, Prince George’s County Police, Greenbelt Police, Riverdale Park Police, Montgomery County Police, and Mount Rainier Police, and Mount Rainier Public Works. The Community Wire contains Nixle news reports relating to the area.