Computer World notes that Palm and Pocket PC users might add “survival” to their hand-held applications. The electronic guides, Terrorism Survival Plan Database and Terrorism Response Database were developed by Stephenson Strategies and Town Compass to pick up and go.
The two first modules are priced at $3.95 each or bundled for $5.95. Free revisions will be issued as new information and threats warrant. It is available immediately for download from PocketDirectory.com, Handango.com, and PalmGear.com.
The database has more than 700 entries covering essential topics like:
- Preparing emergency supply kits and family communication
- Alternative plans to evacuate or “shelter in place”.
- Advice on what to do immediately following a terrorist attack.
- Emergency contact phone numbers for every state.
“We’ve armed handheld users with necessary information they can have and hold 24×7 on how to prepare and respond to a terrorist attack. It might just save lives,” said Eric Makus, president of Town Compass.
No word on a rad-hardened “EMP Survival” edition.
Meanwhile U.S. Health and Human Services is testing a system that uses Palm PDAs to send biological warfare information to health-care workers. The three-month pilot test is meant to determine the best way for federal officials to communicate with clinicians on the front line in the event of a bioterrorist attack, according to HHS officials in Washington.
The test message will contain a special memo on the most threatening biological diseases and agents, such as anthrax, botulism, plague, smallpox, tularemia, and viral hemorrhagic fevers, including Ebola. The message also will include links to Web sites that contain further information about diagnosing and treating these conditions. It will use software from ePocrates, of San Mateo, Calif., to send information to more than 40 percent of practicing physicians in the United States.
A restricted software package called CoBRA, (or Chemical Biological Response Aide), is a search engine that can identify 60,000 chemical agents, plus a few dozen biological threats.
