On the 2nd of March, Victoria Police sent out a mass SMS to everyone in the state saying the follow…
“Extreme weather in Vic expected Mon night & Tues. High wind & fire risk. Listen to Local ABC Radio for emergency updates. Do not reply to this msg.”
What a fantastic use of technology. A great move by the Victorian Police, an organisation I would expect to be more bureaucratic than my university. But I have a problem.
Thankfully, legally the message is not considered spam, which was my first worry. But I am worried about the weather that actually occurred on the 3rd. Besides some slightly higher winds, it was like any other day.
Now while I’m all for being safe than sorry, what has this message done to the credibility of the next? Will people take the next message as seriously? It’s like the Government saying two drinks is a binge, bringing down the level of “binging”, giving it less of an impact.
I also have to question why wasn’t a message like this sent out a week earlier on Black Saturday?
Posted by Zac Martin