Each year, the American Red Cross responds to disasters such as fires and hurricanes.
The Red Cross helps people during these emergencies. The Red Cross provides emergency assistance to disaster victims with food, shelter, mental and physical care. It also runs blood drives and feeds volunteers.
Timing is critical in a disaster. Red Cross must coordinate volunteer services and disaster relief in America quickly and efficiently.
Red Cross, along with many other government agencies, schools, banks, and businesses, chose to use the Immediate Response Information Service, or IRIS, created by TechRadium, Inc.
The system will send messages within 30 seconds to Red Cross contacts when the Red Cross calls IRIS or e-mails it. Red Cross messages can be received by organizers, volunteers and emergency response team members via their phones, pagers and PDAs as well as computers and fax machines. IRIS will keep dialing the phone numbers until they receive an emergency alert.
IRIS users don’t have to purchase or install any special software. The service can translate messages into English, Spanish and Chinese as well as French, Korean, Portuguese, German. Vietnamese, Japanese, Italian, and Vietnamese.
IRIS is also reliable. It uses multiple servers in the United States. IRIS will still function if any server goes down.
IRIS supports the American Red Cross, however it is also available to other organizations of any size. IRIS is able to quickly communicate non-emergency information. This includes weather alerts, office closures, and even office closings. It can inform managers about a scheduled meeting or notify a utility company about an outage.
Both natural and man-made disasters are capable of destroying communities. Slow responses can lead to the loss of lives. The Red Cross has the most sophisticated alert system in place to coordinate its relief efforts. This should make Americans feel secure.
Visit this page to learn more about IRIS or view a demonstration. www.useiris.com.
