The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has unveiled its newly renovated State Emergency Operations Center. This is the first major upgrade to the operations center since it was built in the 1960s. The project involved altering the structure of the center to allow for the installation of new communications and display technologies. “The operations center is now state-of-the-art and significantly enhances the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency’s (MEMA) abilities during disasters and emergencies to maintain situational awareness, coordinate state response and recovery efforts including support to cities and town, facilitate intrastate and interstate mutual aid, and facilitate requests for assistance from the federal government.” Governor Deval Patrick said, “We are determined to be prepared to meet any emergency this Commonwealth may face. This facility will help.”

The opening of the renovated facility was combined with a demonstration of Ping4alerts!, a new public alerting technology for smartphone users. Ping4alerts! is a new free mobile communications app for alerting citizens about Public Safety and Public Health emergencies and disasters. Through technology known as geofencing, Ping4alerts! allows MEMA to send highly targeted, instant multimedia alerts to iPhone and Android devices to notify citizens of events and situations taking place near them.

The application, is the first solution of its kind to wake up smart phones in the middle of the night when televisions and radios are turned off or while the user is driving and send photos and videos to alert users of emergency situations. It also has the ability for two-way communications. “The upgrades to our facility and MEMA’s partnership with Ping4alerts! announced by Governor Patrick and Lieutenant Governor Murray demonstrate this Administration’s commitment to innovation to help the Commonwealth respond and recover from emergencies here in the Commonwealth,” said MEMA Director Kurt Schwartz.