Mobile emergency notification apps: current state, barriers and future potential

Abstract

The main objective of this research is to show that mobile emergency alert apps have the potential to support the Emergency Management system all over the world. Domain experts conducted the decision-making process by evaluating three methods for communicating in an emergency situation: Voice Call, SMS and Mobile Applications. To establish the relative weights of evaluation criteria, the Multi-Criteria Analysis was used. The findings suggest that the ideal solution for communicating during an emergency is alternative no. 3, the Mobile Application. Following the result, we discussed the current state, barriers and future potential of mobile emergency alert applications used for emergency notifications.