9/11 Drill Down

A 30 minute video has been produced that showcases some of the government leaders in the AHC (All Hazards Consortium) and their support of public preparedness efforts. This video is being used to promote the 9/11 Drill Down for Safety program, a truly public/private collaboration effort that is self funded and has apparently attracted the attention and support of NBC, USA Today, FEMA, UPS, the National PTA, Motorola, Verizon and dozens of other public and private sector organizations around the country.

The 9/11 Drill Down is a public preparedness drill aimed at the next generation (and their parents, families and employers) to help them communicate via text messaging instead of phone calls during an emergency. Text first, talk second. As most young people have a cell phone and using texting more the voice calling, this program is easy for them do; allows them to recruit the friends on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace; motivates them to tell their parents and employers about it and maybe teach them how to use text messaging; and make preparedness “kool and relevant” to their world. Last year over 400,000 people signed up for the Drill Down program nationwide. This year’s effort will most likely be over 1 million.

Link to video: http://www.safeamericaprepared.org/webinars/96.html

The video has been reviewed and approved by those appearing in it. This video is live on their website.



What is the 9/11 Drill Down?

Drill A – Family/Friend/ Emergency Contact: Send, Receive, and Confirm text message with family member or friend.

1. Individual sends a text message to a family member and/or friend during the exercise, e.g., “I M OK”/ “R U OK”

2. Family member/friend responds with “I M OK”

Drill B – Employer to Employee Groups: Send, Receive and Confirm text messages with employees.

1. Employer sends text message to employees announcing a drill, e.g., “This is a texting drill through the alert notification system. For more information on preparedness, please go to (organization website) or contact (supervisor, safety department, etc.) for more information.”

2. Employees respond by going to the website and/or making the suggested contact for more information on preparedness.