EASTVALE:
Resident develops emergency iPhone app
PRESS-ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
Published: 27 November 2011 08:22 PM
Eastvale resident Irene Long has spent a
good part of her adult life getting
prepared — and urging others to prepare
— for a catastrophe.
Long said her efforts have convinced her
that most people are woefully unprepared
to face any type of disaster, be it an
earthquake, nuclear incident or flood.
"I call it the ostrich syndrome," she
said recently. "People believe, `If I
don't think about it, it won't happen.'"
But if Long has her way, everyone will
get prepared for disasters.
And to make it easier, Long has
developed "What R U up2?," an emergency
IPhone application.
The application, or "app" as cellphone
aficionados call the programs, allows
users to create lists of their emergency
contacts, the places they frequent or
where they may seek shelter in a
disaster. They can also list their local
hospitals and doctors, the schools their
children or grandchildren attend and
other important information.
Instead of having to type individual
messages on their cellphone keyboards,
users click on pre-set iPhone icons.
Then, messages are sent to everyone on
their custom contact lists alerting
people to their status.
Call it, "one click alerts all."
For example, after a big earthquake,
someone could click on an icon that lets
their loved ones know they are safe at
home or at work. Or they could click on
an icon that says they are in the
hospital. The messages are received as
text messages on any type of cellphone.
Peter Lent, deputy director of Riverside
County Office of Emergency Services,
said he was not familiar with the app
but called it "a good idea."
"It's what we've told people all along,"
Lent said. "They need to have an
emergency plan and to keep their
contacts with them all the time."
"This is taking it into the 21{+s}{+t}
century," he said.
Crystal Davis, crisis communications
manager for Sprint, said she could not
guarantee that Long's app would be
useful in every type of disaster.
"After a major disaster, everybody
reaches for their cellphone," she said.
"But every situation is different."
Long, 59, said she chose to launch her
app Oct. 17, the anniversary of the 1989
Loma Prieta earthquake in the San
Francisco area, because of the
significant role it played in driving
home the need for family disaster
preparedness and emergency response
training.
During the quake, her 18-month-old son
was nearly killed by a heavy armoire the
family had not bolted down because they
were in temporary housing for two months
while their permanent home was being
built, Long said.
Fortunately her husband was nearby and
pulled the toddler to safety as the
armoire toppled over.
"We told ourselves, `What were the odds
a quake would hit during that time?'"
Long said. "My son could have been
killed because we were playing the odds.
Sometimes the odds can beat you."
Since then, Long has been actively
involved in disaster planning wherever
she has lived. She moved to Eastvale in
2002.
In 2005, she became involved in
JurupaComm, a disaster planning group
founded by the late Jim Real, who was a
director in the Jurupa Area Recreation
and Park District.
After his death, she was elected to head
the group.
In 2007 she started a program to train
Air Force JROTC cadets at Norco High in
disaster response skills.
This year, Long, Jurupa Valley Mayor
Laura Roughton and other Jurupa Citizen
Corps members conducted a three-hour
disaster preparedness training program
for the Patriot High School senior
class.
"What R U up2?" is available on iTunes
for $1.99.
