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The brainchild of observing practices across several countries (France, Spain, Japan, Haiti, Togo…), including those linked to environmental monitoring, the smartphone app SIGNALERT has been operational since January 2014.

Founder Richard Guillande has gathered a team of four others, investing together in the initial capital of a limited company in order to build the project.

Since then, dozens of specialists and scientists have joined them in contributing to the project and bringing their knowledge to the table.

What is SIGNALERT ?

SIGNALERT is a free smartphone app, available for iPhone and Android.

The SIGNALERT app offers you the chance to report observations of a phenomenon quickly, be it quick or slow, in its early stages or at its height, which presents a danger for man, their belongings, the environment or infrastructure:

- Floods

- Torrential Downpours

- Forest Fires

- Rockfall

- Avalanches

- Snowfall

- Cyclones.

Many other phenomena are soon to be added, be they of human or natural origin.

Launched in 2012, SIGNALERT is growing, through the involvement of specialists in each phenomenon.

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How does SIGNALERT work?

Through the free SIGNALERT smartphone app, you report the effects of natural disasters you have witnessed from wherever you are in the world. This could be a flood, a tornado only lasting a few minutes, pollution, or a major accident. SIGNALERT informs you of what your neighbours are witnessing in your area, and puts you in touch either with them or with the emergency services, to whom you send photographs of the event.

More accurate than Twitter, and more direct and confidential than Facebook, SIGNALERT is fast becoming the social network for the management of risks, catastrophes, and consequences of climate change.

Through to Crowdmapping, the location of the event, the intensity of the phenomenon, its seriousness, and its eventual victims are very quickly identified.

SIGNALERT builds a description of the event and allows it to be detected very quickly. It also allows it to be tracked and described more effectively than on Twitter or Facebook.

The app also provides useful information on how to act when facing unusual or dangerous situations that we rarely come up against.

Why SIGNALERT ?

SIGNALERT isn’t a replacement for official forecasting and alert systems or the institutional measurement networks. It merely rounds them out with a local description of the effects as they are experienced on the ground.

Different user event descriptions are utilised by our clients and partners, who monitor the area where the phenomenon is occurring, organise rescue efforts, and plan preventative measures.

Users of the app receive a feedback map, showing them the status of the situation concerning the alert that they have sent.

Where is SIGNALERT ?

The SIGNALERT app exists in French and English. It works worldwide and has been tested in the Antilles, Djibouti, Haiti, Greece, Iceland, Morocco, Pakistan, and the USA.

SIGNALERT has currently been tested in several regions of France, with institutional partners who contribute to approving and spreading the word about the concept.

In a few weeks, a new version of the app will allow you to have your own personal surveillance system centred on locations of your choice, and to be informed by other users of significant events happening nearby.

SIGNALERT was used in September and October for reporting the impact of floods in the Cévennes region in the South of France.

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SIGNALERT is not yet financially independent enough to develop the system, and is calling on

crowdfunding to establish its reputation and become viable.

Nevertheless, we are launching tests in faraway countries from the month of December 2014 in partnership with local bodies, notably in Haiti. SIGNALERT, with its new version due for release at the end of 2014, will allow the reporting of cyclones, whether you live in an affected region or you are just passing through on holiday.

SIGNALERT and you

We need you in order to progress further. This includes your criticism of the application, which we need so that we can improve the app and make it more practical and nicer to use.

Let us know which new phenomena or functions you would like to see on the application.

SIGNALERT can be used wherever you are; at work, away for the weekend, on holiday, and anywhere in the world. Try it!

SIGNALERT APP