In 2005, when Hurricane Rita hit the coast of Texas, emergency response teams were not prepared enough to act quickly to attend to the issue. Communications were minimal and Texas did not have a centralized system to inform its residents about weather changes around the state. Sophia Bollag & Ally Mutnick write in "Tech Advances Have 'Changed the Way We Will Respond'" that as of 2015, there have been some major advances in technology that allow first responders to help people quickly.
Some tech improvements in the article include improvements in meteorology, mobile satellite units & Wi-Fi hot-spots and smartphones & social media. Weather alerts like the National Weather Service and more precise weather predictions provide a great deal of information and preparedness for weather emergencies. Faster access to the internet around Texas and the entire nation help people track emergencies and helps to avoid them. Smartphones and social media tie into this as well. You can now receive text messages with weather alerts near your area by your phone's GPS and social media helps connect to people in emergencies that may be trapped and are able to connect to the internet to seek help.
In retrospect to 2005, we have more than improved our lives by improving the technology that helps keep us safe from emergencies, especially emergencies regarding natural disasters. We can only keep improving and changing the way we respond, avoid and prepare for dangerous situations in order to stay safe.
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