Residents or workers in Birmingham will now be able to sign up to the Birmingham Community Alert messaging service, powered by HTK Horizon, by sending a text message.

The service, launched in 2009, is run by Birmingham Resilience Team and uses Horizon's GIS mapping and multi-channel messaging capabilities to target message recipients based on their registered location and contact preferences.

The new text sign-up option provides people with another way of registering for the free service, in addition to a secure on-line registration form.

By sending a text message from a mobile phone to 83118 with the word ALERT followed by a postcode, this automatically registers the mobile phone number to receive emergency alerts based on the area covered by the postcode.  A message will then be sent back containing a username and password, allowing access to the online registation pages where details can be updated and additional postcodes or contact methods can be selected.

Glen Curry, Emergency Planning Officer says “this is by far the quickest and simpliest way of signing up to receive emergency alerts, and we encouage as many people as possible to sign up, either by text message or by our online registation pages.”

“Registering for emergency alerts is completely free and allows you to receive up to date and accurate information if an emergency occurs in your area.”