Emergency notification system to be tested Oct. 21

Oct. 14, 2009 -- Washington University in St. Louis will test its emergency notification system, WUSTLAlerts, at approximately 12:50 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21.

The WUSTLAlerts test will take place unless there is the potential for severe weather that day or some other emergency is occurring at that time.

For the test, WUSTLAlerts will send WUSTL community members e-mails to @wustl.edu addresses, text messages to cell phones and voice messages to campus phones. E-mails will come from WUSTLAlerts@wustl.edu; text messages will come from 89361; and campus phone calls will come from 935-9000. The WUSTL community is encouraged to respond as quickly as possible per the instructions. This will help gauge the effectiveness of the system.

Washington University also will notify the WUSTL community of the test via the emergency hotline (935-9000 locally or toll-free 888-234-2863) and emergency Web site (emergency.wustl.edu).

In the event of an actual emergency, the emergency Web site and hotline will be updated regularly to provide information to the WUSTL community.

WUSTL community members are strongly encouraged to update their contact information via HRMS and WebSTAC/SIS. The university uses the information in HRMS and WebSTAC/SIS to contact individuals when necessary in an emergency.

WUSTL community members who have already updated their contact information but have more than one cell phone or pager number are encouraged to log in and include all numbers in their HRMS or WebSTAC/SIS profile.

"In an emergency, WUSTLAlerts will use the contact information in HRMS and WebSTAC," said Matt Arthur, director of incident communications solutions. "In preparation for the test, now would be a great time to check and update contact information."