Texas Tech Students Thankful for Emergency Alerts During Gas Leak
By: Meredith Hillgartner
Updated: January 31, 2013
"We got a text, a call and an email," Evans said.
You may have heard about this morning's gas leak on the news but students at Texas Tech found out on their phones.
"We were sitting up in my apartment and we got a phone call first and then a text message telling us that there was a gas leak and it was really close by," Childers said.
Tech was able to send their emergency alert out within 30 minutes of the initial 911 call.
Ally Childers and Nikki Evans say they think Tech worked fast.
"I think Tech does a really good job of alerting it's students of dangers near campus and all these student housing places," Evans said.
"It's important for us that anything that could affect our students, whether it be on campus or off, that we alert them and make sure they stay clear of that area," Cook said. "It's for their safety."
Chris Cook with the Texas Tech Office of Communications said alerts went out by phone call, text message and email.
"The messages are tailored for that event," Cook said. "So as these things unfold, we are immediately crafting these messages quickly."
Tech did not cancel classes for the day-but the event gave them the chance to practice their system and make improvements for next time.
"Anything to help us cut down that time between the actual notification of an incident to us and then us notifying our audience, our students, our faculty, our staff," Cook said.
