Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
The Viability of Mobile Services (SMS and Cell
Broadcast) in Emergency Management Solutions:
An Exploratory Study
https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v12i1.7677
Mahmoud Al-dalahmeh!!"
The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
m.aldalahmeh@ju.edu.jo
Ons Al-Shamaileh, Anas Aloudat
American University in the Emirates, Dubai, UAE
Bader Obeidat
The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
Abstract–Utilizing mobile devices for emergency management has gained
much interest from governments in the past few years. This interest is mainly
due to the high penetration rate of these devices among people and well-
established, nation-wide coverage of mobile telecommunications networks in
many countries around the world; making these devices a feasible means to
send alerts or warnings message using short message services (SMS) or warn-
ings for a specific geographic area (cell broadcast services (CBS)) in case of an
emergency. As there are quite a number of barriers for investing in and estab-
lishing dedicated emergency management solutions in the developing countries,
developing emergency solutions by the government of a developing country us-
ing its existing mobile telecommunications networks is argued to be feasible
and viable. Nevertheless, a better understanding of the deployment of such mo-
bile emergency solutions in context of developing countries is still in its gene-
sis. In particular, the fit between the mobile phone platform and emergency
management, delivery models of emergency alerts and warnings through mo-
bile devices, the role of the private telecommunications providers and non-
government organizations in such solutions, and the non-technical requirements
of mobile government emergency solutions are all still not well articulated. A
qualitative research approach was carried out to explore these matters of inter-
est. Leximancer software tool and content analysis were used to extract themes
of this study. The findings confirm mobile phones as a convenient approach for
a developing country to develop its national emergency solution, but a set of
requirements toward such development is still critically needed to be met.
Keywords—Mobile, Government, Developing Country, Emergency Manage-
ment, Warning System, Public Safety, Regulatory Framework, Requirement,
SMS, CBS
iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018 95
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
1 Introduction
Mobile emergency services have become an integral part in emergency manage-
ment strategies in several countries around the world [4]. In general, handheld devices
emerged as an important platform in national emergency systems due to their wide
spread use among people. Mobile-based emergency solutions are mainly used for two
purposes: to find the almost exact geographic location of a person’s mobile who is in
a distress, and to disseminate updates, alerts, or warning messages to people who are
in the vicinity of a threatened area [5]. A mobile phone in case of an large-scale
emergency can be used as a channel that permits a government to communicate with
citizens and effectively deliver relevant information before, during, or after an emer-
gency, almost instantly and regardless of the time and location of the recipient [6].
Despite the value mobile phones promise to offer in emergency management; a
number of barriers do actually hinder their use. Some of these barriers are related to
the technical limitations of the telecommunications networks where most of carrier
networks cannot provide high accuracy to pinpoint the exact geographic location of a
person in need. This is quite true in rural areas [8, 33]. Other barriers are associated
with social perceptions and public concerns regarding government’s potential exploi-
tation of these devices for monitoring and surveillance [4, 27, 23]. Another set of
barriers can be linked to economic reasons where emergency management solutions
do usually require heavy investments in infrastructure and technology [29, 36].
The importance of this study stems of the fact that it sheds the light on the viability
of exploiting mobile devices in national emergency management solutions in develop-
ing countries; where most of these countries cannot truly afford investing or establish-
ing dedicated and sophisticated solutions within its national emergency solutions.
Jordan was selected as a case of this research investigation. This selection was
made based on three reasons: Jordan well served the purposes of both convenient and
purposive sampling where it was convenient for the researchers to secure the intended
participants of interest from the country and, at the same time, guarantee the partici-
pation of the most appropriate subjects who suit the purpose of this study [25, 11].
Secondly, Jordan is considered a good example of a developing country with limited
resources and moderate economic capabilities [35]. The third reason is the fact that no
mobile-based emergency solutions currently exist in Jordan, which fits this research
in understanding the feasibility of mobile devices in a developing country’s emergen-
cy management planning. The rest of the paper is structured as follows: Section Two
present gab in the research and the importance of this study. Section Three précis a
background about the concepts of emergency, emergency management, Short Mesage
Service, Cell Broad Cast Services and literature related to existing mobile phone
technologies that can be potentially used in emergency management. Section Four
present of a unique comparison of the current state of mobile phone systems in a
number of developing Countries. In Section Five a description is given about the
qualitative research methodology used. The findings of this research and the analysis
are discussed in Section Six. Section Seven confess the presence of some limitations
in Mobile Service in emergency management. Finally,Section Eight concludes this
article.
96 http://www.i-jim.org
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
2 The Call for This Research
To a huge degree, research into public assistance of mobile telephone services i.e.
government to citizen for emergency purposes has been restricted, technical viability
studies worldwide, particularly in developing countries, about these electronic ser-
vices has been limited, as well as there is a stamped scarcity in theoretical and empiri-
cal research that particularly addresses the issues surrounding the usage of Mobile
Services for emergency management. Accordingly, there is a clear gap in the current
body of knowledge coordinated towards establishing the suitability of mobile tele-
phone services in emergency management. The contribution of this study can be out-
lined as the following: the research's exact enlightenment for the need to mobile tele-
phone services in emergency management,, its presentation of an important compari-
son among currently available technologies within mobile phone services used in
emergency (SMS and CBS) in a number of developing countries ( table 2), Coduct a
semi-structured interviews with expert people, national and international experience,
in the National Security, E-government, Mobile Telecommunications and Emergency
Management, extract valuble themes from these interviews, and its listing of key
requirements of relevant and appropriate use of the above mentioned services, which
will lead to their sure success in developing countries including Jordan.
3 Background
Several definitions for emergency are presented in emergency management litera-
ture. Most of these definitions focus on measuring the magnitude of negative impacts
of a specific incident on lives and properties [12]. Other definitions set the level of
impact, including number of casualties, injured people, or the magnitude of destruc-
tion in infrastructures and properties in order to differentiate between emergencies,
disasters, and catastrophes [28]. However, another line of thinking challenges the
previous classification that only focuses on the magnitude or level of destruction and
suggests the psychological impact of an event on individuals and societies as the right
classification [24, 26, 21]. In this sense, disasters and catastrophes can be perceived as
emergencies, but with a large scale of magnitude or negative impact on people and/or
properties.
Since the dawn of humanity, people dealt with emergencies using whatever tools
and methods available, but starting in the twentieth century a more systematic ap-
proach did organize the scattered efforts of mankind leading to the establishment of
emergency management as a science, art, and a discipline of research [7]. According
to Haddow et al. [15], contemporary emergency management can be defined as the
field that is specialized in dealing with and avoiding emergencies by developing and
improving policies, procedures, contingency plans, applications, and strategies that
contribute in creating safer and sustainable society.
Several technologies can be considered as solutions for emergency management
over mobile devices. One of these technologies, according to the Swedish Company
of Ericsson, is Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (MBMS) which can be ex-
iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018 97
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
ploited to disseminate emergency messages with rich multi-media content, such as
voice instructions or interactive maps, to a specific geographic area [17]. Other tech-
nologies, including Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) and Multimedia Messaging
Service (MMS), can also support the transmission of digital images or audio alerts
over mobile telecommunications networks [14]. Nonetheless, these technologies theo-
retically have the ability to work only on new types of mobile phone devices, such as
smartphones, but cannot be utilized to deliver rich-content emergency-related infor-
mation to traditional mobile devices [16]. This fact unfortunately restricts the use of
these technologies as a feasible solution in emergency management, specifically in
developing countries where a high percentage of old mobile devices are largely still in
use [22].
Other technologies do exist and can satisfy most of the requirements needed for
emergency management on traditional mobile devices and over fairly-old generations
of wireless telecommunications networks like the 3G. According to a report by the
European Telecommunications Standards Institute in 2006, Short Messaging Service
(SMS) and Cell Broadcast Service (CBS) technologies can be used for emergency
management, and were supported by the majority of mobile devices at that time [31].
Smartphones and new mobile devices also support SMS and CBS [13] making these
two existing technologies an ideal option that maps the status and need of developing
countries. According to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute [31],
SMS and CBS can fulfill most necessities required for warning frameworks in crises.
These two technologies share two criteria: to start with, they both fulfill essential
requirements for emergency management by means of mobile through knowing the
location of the mobile with a certain timeline; second the two technologies can offer
help to the overwhelming larger part of presently utilized mobiles, including obsolete
ones; something that the technology, right now, does not offer [6].
3.1 Short message service (SMS)
SMS is a notable and acknowledged method of correspondence. It is fit for trans-
mitting a constrained size of binary or text messages to at least one party. SMS offers
a virtual assurance for message conveyance to its recipient [31]. If there should arise
an occurrence of an inaccessible network or short breakdown, the message is put
away in the Short Message Service Center (SMSC) compartment and later delivered
when the network or destination winds up accessible. Additionally, the message is
delivered if the mobile handset is busy in with any voice and/or data activity. SMS
messages don't expend much bandwidth, even though the system assets may wind up
noticeably over-burden if a massive number of SMS messages and additionally tele-
phone calls have been started all the while. Furthermore, postponement can happen
and may bring about delivery failure, especially during times of emergencies and
disasters.
SMS does not give any geo-location data independent by itself. such data can be
gotten from different assets in the telecommunications network (e.g. the Cell-ID).
SMS can possibly be utilized for location-based mobile phone emergency services,
98 http://www.i-jim.org
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
where mass SMS messages can be coordinated to versatile numbers when they have
been recognized to exist in assigned region(s) [19].
3.2 Cell broadcasting service (CBS)
Cell Broadcasting Service is one provided by mobile network provider where iden-
tical text messages are broadcast arbitrarily to every single mobile in a specific geo-
graphic region. The messages can be broadcast to one cell tower or all cells in a
transporter arrange [31]. Contrary to an SMS, the nature of CBS does not allow two-
way communication which clarifies why this technology has not been broadly sent for
business applications [33]. The cell broadcasting range has the limit of around 64000
distinctive, consistent channels, with the possibility to utilize each channel for an
alternate kind of service messaging. Agreed it is a broadcasting service, the CBS does
not require the recognizable proof or the presence of any mobile number. Like the
radio service, where the common just the initialized radio frequency (allocated to a
recurrence), would receive the broadcast. Hence, the handset must be changed on to a
exact CBS channel to begin accepting messages [16].
Table1 provides a comparison between the characteristics of the two most feasible
technologies that can be utilized for emergency services via mobile phones; SMS and
CBS. The characteristics were adapted from The GSMA- Disaster Response [32].
4 The Current State of Emergency Management Mobile
Solution in a Number of Developing Countries
The implementation of mobile phone in emergency management basically depends
on infrastructure of mobile telecommunication companies. Aloudat et al. [5] argues
that these companies should be supported by governments through contractual agree-
ments. The nature of the agreements, albeit unique to every company, will discuss
compensation mechanisms, techniques devoted for presenting services, and legisla-
tion. Table 2, shows number of developing countries that have already deployed its
emergency management mobile solutions, or are planning to deploy the solutions,
using SMS, CBS, or both. The table also illustrates the participation of the mobile
service provider; whether it is obligatory or voluntary, and the compensation mecha-
nism from the government for using the service provider’s network and infrastructure.
iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018 99
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
Table 1. SMS and CBS, a comparison
Characteristic Short Message Service Cell Broadcast Service
Services
Transmission Type Message sent point to point Message sent point to area
Message dependency
on mobile number
yes- requires the input of specific phone
numbers and database maintenance.
NO - does not require the input of spe-
cific phone numbers.
Message Dependency
on Location
NO - message received independent of
location, only registered numbers noti-
fied.
YES - all mobile stations within a de-
fined geographical area notified
Two-way Communi-
cation
Yes - users can both receive and respond
directly to the sender
Not direct response - users cannot reply
directly but can respond through num-
bers or URLs included in message.
Sensitivity to Disaster
network conditions
Will often succeed in poor radio condi-
tions, due to air occupancy for a short
message of only a few tens of ms. Uses
signaling radio channels, which can be
subject to congestion in a disaster. Huge
volumes can be subject to delays if sent
during a disaster.
Broadcasts are sent on dedicated chan-
nels therefore congestion unlikely,
though delays to message delivery may
occur in areas of poor coverage.
Repetition No repetition rate Messages can be repeatedly broadcast
periodically by the GSM BSC/BTS
within the range 2 s to 32 minutes.
Security and message
integrity
Poor – no indication that a message is
generated by a legitimate authority, and
message can be “spoofed” from other
phones.
Good - safeguards prevent an outsider
from generating a cell broadcast mes-
sage, therefore false or spam alerts are
unlikely.
Message
Message Size 140 160 characters. Maximum of 5
messages can be concatenated
93 characters. Maximum of 15 Concate-
nated Pages.
Message Type Static messages will be sent only to all
registered numbers.
Custom messages can be sent to differ-
ent areas to reflect different alert status
or hazards.
Message Display
Notification
Display can be controlled by user For subscribed handsets messages can
be automatically pushed to the screen
and a distinct alert sounded
Handset Compatibility Compatible on all handsets. Compatible on most handsets but may
require manual configuration or software
client on handset. Presentation may
differ across handsets.
Reception Message received once the mobile is
switched on.
No message received if broadcast is sent
whilst mobile is switched off. However,
if updates to the cell broadcast are sent,
they will be received when mobile is
switched on.
Delivery Confirmation Yes - sender can request delivery con-
firmation
No - no confirmation of delivery.
Language selection No. Identical to all receivers Yes. Messages can be broadcasted in
subscriber’s preferred language
100 http://www.i-jim.org
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
Table 2. Developing Countries with a Deployed Emergency Management Mobile Solution
Country Nature of partic-ipation Type of Agreement
Government finan-
cial compensation Technology
Bangladesh1 Obligatory Contractual agreement No compensation SMS and CBS
India2 Voluntary Oral agreement No compensation SMS and CBS
Lebanon3 Unknown SMS and CBS
Maldives4 Obligatory
Legislation and contractual
agreement No compensation CBS
Nigeria5 Voluntary Memorandum of Understanding No compensation CBS and SMS
Samoa6 Voluntary Regulatory framework No compensation CBS and SMS
Sri Lanka7 Obligatory Legislation No compensation CBS and SMS
Sources: 1[1], 2[9], 3[30], 4[33], 5[19], 6[20], 7[10].
5 Research Methodology
A Qualitative approach in the form of semi-structured interviews were applied to
obtain points of view and opinions regarding the interest of this research. Using inter-
views is highly recommended because of the exploratory nature of this research that
looks into a fairly new area of research; which is to understand the viability of mobile
devices as a convenient and economic alternative to emergency management solu-
tions in developing countries. Furthermore The semi-structured approach allowed the
researcher to ask follow-up questions for clarification as the interview progressed.
Eight interviews were conducted with high-profile experts from Jordan. It is im-
portant to note this number of interviews are quite adequate since the focus is to ob-
tain in-depth insights from individuals who are professionally involved in the plan-
ning and developing of country-wide strategies. The interviewees were carefully
selected from the fields of national security, emergency management, e-government,
and mobile telecommunications. The ultimate goal was to construct a comprehensive
perspective that not only stands upon understanding the value of mobile devices for
emergency management, but also the requirements and directions of these devices in
national emergency management solutions in developing countries.
An interview protocol containing a set of questions that are related to the subject of
matter was designed to guide each interview. Additional questions were included to
probe and expand on specific areas of interest, once raised. All interviews were car-
ried out face-to-face, between December 4th, 2016 and March 2nd, 2017. Each inter-
view lasted between 45 to 85 minutes. Fortunately, all interviews were recorded upon
explicit consent and approval from the interviewees. Each interview was transcribed
and the generated text was audited twice to guarantee a complete match with its origi-
nal audio file.
Following the recommendations of Miles and Huberman [18], the content analysis
technique was performed to analyze the interviews. In this method, the open-coding
technique were automatically identified by the Leximancer software to determine and
extract basic concepts from each interview [2]. Leximancer is a software tool de-
signed for analyzing natural-language text data. Leximancer was used in coding
iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018 101
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
would improve the overall reliability in the content analysis since potential errors in
coding, due to inaccurate human judgement and fatigue, can be largely avoided. Lat-
er, related concepts and all supporting statements were carefully clustered to create a
specific theme. Finally, the themes were reported, discussed, and presented as the
findings of this research. The personal details of the participants were removed to
allow for anonymity in responses but wherever possible company and organisational
names remained. However, as an acknowledgment to all of the interviewees’ valuable
responses, a summary of the eight interviewees and their background is presented in
Table 3.
Table 3. List of Experts Interviewed
No Interviewee Pseudonym Description Date Duration
1 Expert A
Holds a high degree in telecommunications engineer-
ing from the University of Manchester, UK, with
more than fifteen years of practical experience in the
field of ICT in the European Union. Works with a
leading mobile service provider in Jordan.
December 4th,
2016 45 minutes
2 Expert B
A well-known consultant in security strategies. Holds
a Ph.D. in National Security Management from
Colorado Technical University, USA. Works with the
Ministry of Planning & International Cooperation,
Jordan.
December 12th,
2016
60 minutes
3 Expert C
Professional and Researcher in Information Systems
and Technologies. Hold a Ph.D. in Geographic Infor-
mation Systems form Newcastle University, UK.
Works with the Royal Jordanian Geographic Cen-
ter (RJGC).
December 16th,
2016 50 minutes
4 UN Expert
Expert in early warning systems and technologies
related to floods. Works with the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) in Jordan.
January 8th,
2017 50 minutes
5 Expert D
Responsible of developing policies and programs
concerning the use of Information and Communica-
tions Technology (ICT) for public safety. Works with
the National Emergency and Crisis Management Cen-
ter in Jordan.
January 22nd,
2017 60 minutes
6 Government Representative
High-ranked government official with more than
twenty years of experience in technology and elec-
tronic government services.
February 13th,
2017 85 minutes
7
Rescue Center
Manager Director of a civil defense rescue center in Jordan.
February 26th,
2017 55 minutes
8 Rescue Team Officer
Field officer in search and rescue, civil defense,
Jordan. March 2
nd, 2017 48 minutes
6 Findings and Discussion
The main themes found by the content analysis conducted by the researchers in ad-
dition to the core themes in the textual data from the interviews were automatically
identified by the Leximancer tool. Leximancer was capable of determining the core
102 http://www.i-jim.org
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
themes in the textual data, which helped to ensure that they matched the main themes
found by the content analysis. The themes, identify by Leximancer and their related
concepts, in addition to the themes identified by the iterative content analysis ap-
proach [18], are fully explored in the discussion presented in this section.
6.1 The need for an adaptive mobile emergency solution to changing
technologies
If a decision is made to utilize an existing solution in a relatively new domain; i.e.,
mobile devices for emergency management in a developing country, the solution must
work with whatever technologies that will emerge in the future, but still be compati-
ble with the existing ones. The solution should not be restricted to work with only one
specific technology. Depending on a sole technology could be exceedingly risky,
especially when it concerns life-saving and emergency conditions. Expert C con-
firmed: “even when we talk about the context of a developing country we should look
for a technology that is able to develop over time, thus satisfying the needs for it now,
and for at least ten years ahead.
Focusing only on one mobile technology, even if it exits and can be used, is dan-
gerous as this technology can quickly become obsolete”. Expert C added: “I would
like to give an example about SMS. In spite of the popularity of SMS, we have to
keep in mind that it relies on what is called circuit-switched and, therefore, it cannot
scale-up very well when a decision is made to send a message to many people in case
of an emergency”. The expert continued: “if we want an effective national plan for
emergency management that relies on mobile devices, and in order to have a system
that warns people over their mobile devices, then we should first critically evaluate all
existing technologies”. Expert C warned from those who walked toward a dead end in
their thinking about an existing technology as an emergency management tool, that
which cannot be used in the future and cannot adapt to the continuous changes in
technologies, needs, and infrastructures. Expert C ended: “Any investment in this type
of technology is practically a waste of time”. Expert B did confirm: “Applying SMS
in a wide-range emergency warning system is difficult, and will remain difficult”. He
continued: “Governments need a system that is able to be developed in an ascending
manner. It should be able to send from ten messages up to a million messages in a
matter of seconds. Development of such system is quite a major concern when current
mobile technologies are used”.
Another point of importance is that there is a need to use a technology that can en-
dures heavy impacts in emergencies, and at the same time be flexible enough in
where at least part of it still functions in case its major parts break down. Expert A,
pointed to the technical issues that should be resolved in case mobile services were
used within extreme dangers, earthquakes for example, since earthquakes affect tele-
communications towers and restricts the delivery of messages to affected people.
Expert D concurred; “technical issues should be taken into consideration when pro-
posing a national emergency service that relies on using mobile. There should be a
clarification that in case of large-scale emergency if all cell towers were destroyed
then government emergency messages would be affected. Expert D added: “Some
iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018 103
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
countries have highly flexible systems, in South Korea, for example, telecommunica-
tions companies along with government authorities have flexible networks that can
function again within only 24 hours after a tornado”.
6.2 Ensuring social equality under the proposed mobile emergency solutions
While there is a need to find solutions that have the ability to develop over time,
there is also a need for a solution that can balance between old mobile devices and
new ones. Expert A explained: “The selected technology should offer justice for all, it
should rely on the least- and not the most- common denominator; the oldest and not
the newest mobile device versions. This is quite true in a country where many people
still own old mobile phones. One should not loose life because he or she owns an old
mobile, and smartphone owners should not be more fortuned than others in this con-
text”.
6.3 Considering the limitations of existing technologies in future mobile
emergency solutions
The UN Expert admired the technology of CBS, but stressed the fact that they are
not fully supported over all mobile telecommunications networks or even vendors of
mobile devices. Expert A, drew the attention to a technical point in regard to SMS
and CBS. In case of SMS, one message is sent at the time to one or multiple recipi-
ents, but the message can be sent from any mobile carrier in the country. On the other
hand, a carrier disseminates one CBS message over a dedicated mobile phone CBS
channel to all mobile devices residing in a specific geographic area, but the drawback
here is that only the subscribers with that carrier would receive the message. People
who are on other networks would not receive it.
Expert D also expressed his fears regarding the use of cell broadcast service tech-
nologies; “We excluded the comprehensive use of cell broadcast service simply be-
cause it covers a wide area, while we need a more precise technology. A good prac-
tice in emergency management includes notifying only people at risk. For example,
sending warnings via CBS to a threatened area means that warnings may reach unin-
tended individuals from adjacent areas due to the large geographic area the mobile
cell towers can cover, hence resulting in spreading a needless public panic”.
The representative of the e-government pointed out that the wide-range coverage
of cell broadcast has a technical limitation: “a cell covered by broadcast tower may
have a range up to 18 kilometers in some rural areas”. He illustrated a scenario where
there is a need to notify people who are located with only one kilometer range of the
cell tower center, but in the case of CBS people who are very far from the intended
area will also be notified; “notifying people in unaffected areas will have adverse
effects, and will let people distrust any further governmental warnings”.
Any technology has limitations. The e-government representative noted: “Whatev-
er government does, it cannot achieve a comprehensive coverage to all citizens, as
their mobiles might be simply switched off, we should be practical”. Expert D stated:
“From our experience we got to know factors affecting evacuation of people from
104 http://www.i-jim.org
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
threatened areas. In the context of a warning system that is based on SMS, for exam-
ple, one of the major limitations is the shortness of the message which cannot include
the whole safety information. In an emergency operations, the important thing is to
draw people’s attention first, and then to make them do something like getting more
information about places of shelters. This would be extremely difficult to manage
through SMS technology”.
Third limitation was described by the general safety expert who said: “Some tre-
mendous disasters impose challenges that can’t be overcome by geography-based
warning solutions, as these disasters may be spreading too quickly, or we can’t pre-
dict them precisely. This necessitates a governmental accurate study to a certain lim-
ited number of disasters that can be effectively managed through LBS where poten-
tials of (LBS) should be evaluated”
United nation’s expert commented: “We should be realistic from the technical
point of view when building a system. Public’s expectations should be reasonable as
information provided by warning system is limited in its precision and accuracy”.
6.4 Public education and awareness before any mobile emergency solution
Concerns raised about the need to make the public be informed about any technol-
ogy if a decision is made to utilize it in emergency management. Expert B pointed out
to an important fact that the majority of mobile phone owners do not use CBS or even
know this technology exists which constitutes a real awareness issue if a decision is
made to rely, for example, on this technology in emergencies.
Expert A also confirmed the fact that the majority of people are unaware of the ex-
istence of CBS, which creates the need for awareness campaigns and public prepara-
tion. Expert A clarified: “This necessitates spreading awareness through public cam-
paigns since it is not enough for people to get a CBS message without knowing from
where it came, or what it actually meant”.
The UN expert suggested a technique to overcome the issue of managing people
who may not pay attention to warning messages received: “The technique is simple.
You can send a warning message while simultaneously exploit other channels like
sirens if exist. This will make people switch on to radio, TV, or start to pay attention
to messages received over their mobile devices”. He added: “These operations are
complicated as you have to educate people on what and what not to do over each
incident. Sometimes you have to educate people about the appropriate way for evacu-
ation which cannot be fully achieved by mobile devices alone”.
According to the Rescue Team Officer, conducting trials and experiments by gov-
ernment with people before applying the national solution is very crucial: “there
should be regular training and trails to avoid any possible negative effects on public,
such as false alarms or panic, which may lead to the ultimate failure of these solu-
tions”.
Governments have to prepare people on how to face threats associated with emer-
gencies, whether these emergencies are natural or manmade. This preparation has the
advantage of building strong societies that are able to endure and adapt with extreme
iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018 105
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
events. Strong societies help in achieving the objectives of national warning systems,
including those based on mobile emergency services.
Expert A noted that if panic spreads, social aspects should not be ignored. He sug-
gested using social media to enable communication between people and government.
He said: “We might have individuals who start acting as volunteers spreading mes-
sages on Facebook or twitter to help people communicate vital information relevant to
disasters, in addition to provide government authorities with real information about
the situation in case the disaster persists for some time”.
The Rescue Center Manager stated that there would be communication problems
among some citizens as they have different cultural and educational levels. He added:
“Education is the key to solve many problems facing waning systems. We need to be
mentally prepared to disasters; this can be achieved through educating children, and
societies about how to get prepared to all disasters”. Part of the education should be
directed towards what people should do when they receive warning messages via their
mobiles. The UN Expert said: “Challenges here are rather cultural than technical, the
best solution is to prepare people on how to respond correctly when they receive
warning messages. Therefore, an emergency warning system that is based on mobile
phones needs to be applied along with an educational program. People have to know
that they will receive warning messages from time to time. Theoretically speaking, we
can prepare the overwhelming majority of citizens. Few categories of society will still
need further help from government or from charities and non-government organiza-
tions”. The Expert gave two examples of these categories: An old lady who has diffi-
culty in hearing and receives a mobile message about gas leakage while sleeping, and
an old gentleman who is illiterate but receives a warning message about an impending
emergency.
Public education and awareness are indeed major issues for governments and are
actually on the agendas of many countries. The Government Representative con-
firmed: “Governments plan to spread their services along with nation-wide awareness
campaigns. We are not only targeting public, but also different government agencies
and all relevant parties, such as school administrators who have hundreds of kids to
take care of. Awareness becomes a necessity where we have mass of people in specif-
ic places, such as universities and companies”.
6.5 Avoiding designing a solution for a specific type of emergency
Mobile emergency solutions should not be designed to only support specific type
of emergencies, but they should support them all. The Rescuer Center Manager con-
firmed this by stating: “If governments and emergency management agencies did not
design national warning systems in a manner that covers all types of disasters and
emergencies, then there would be a loss in lives. By law we will be responsible for
it”.
106 http://www.i-jim.org
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
6.6 Guidelines with the content of the emergency message
The content of a warning message should be clear and simple. A point the Gov-
ernment representative clearly identified is: “we should be realistic about peoples’
understanding of the warning message, as the message can be simply misunderstood”.
The UN Expert confirmed by stating: “Information sent to the public should be accu-
rate and effective upon delivery, and well organized from the early beginning. There
should be clear instructions about what to do in case there is a problem in communi-
cations or in people’s understanding of the message. In addition, problems should be
solved next time so as people would not lose confidence in government warning sys-
tems. People should know that any message from the warning system is urgent and
should not be ignored, that is why messages should be professional and adequate”.
Expert D, from the National Emergency and Crisis Management Center in Jordan,
argued that there should be strict protocols for spreading information relevant to
emergencies and should be accurately followed; similar to what is prevalent in any
other media that educates people in case of an emergency. He stated: “Currently we
have specific steps in notifying media about an emergency. These steps are strictly
controlled, where only assigned government officers have the right to notify media.
Those officers are trained and have a license to spread information to media”.
6.7 Use of government mobile services in case of severe emergencies only
Mobile emergency services should be used only in case of a large-scale emergen-
cy. The Rescue Center Manager contended: “It does not make sense to wake up mil-
lions of people in Amman [the Capital of Jordan] to tell them there will be a snow
storm unless it is unprecedented in scale or in its unexpected magnitude. The warning
system over mobile devices should not be used for casual things as this will only lead
to unnecessary panic. In addition, it is preferred to use the warning system in very
certain cases when it is the only tool to spread life-saving information quickly”. The
interviewee suggested that other channels, like radio and TV, should be used to
broadcast information about simple incidents while leaving any suggested mobile-
based system to manage severe emergencies only. He concluded: “We do not want to
end up with a system that people complain from its messages in each and every inci-
dent happened around them”.
Indeed, too many warning messages may have unwanted adverse effect on peo-
ple’s evaluation of mobile emergency services, and the benefits of these services will
be undermined specifically in major events. The Rescue Center Manager agreed:
“One of the governments put specific altering censors in a chemical plant, where
sirens were triggered whenever minor leaks happened which introduced potential risk
to neighboring areas. After couple of months, people got bored and cut the wires of
the alerting system because they did not want to know about a potential disaster”. The
interviewee continued: “such services should be wisely managed so as to keep peo-
ple’s trust in the government and its emergency systems”. Expert B also concurred:
“What we actually need is less warning messages, sent to the intended people only,
and which their content is carefully formulated”.
iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018 107
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
6.8 Build a partnership and shared responsibility between government and
non-governmental organizations
Building a national approach for emergency system based on mobile devices needs
the participation of governments, non-profit, and non-government organizations. The
UN Expert argued: “we need a comprehensive participation from all government
agencies during emergencies. After all, government agencies are the main entities
which are responsible for emergency management. When a government notifies peo-
ple that they should evacuate, then it should present a clear explanation of the best
way to do that. However, not everyone can move by himself. In this context, we do
not want to spread panic which would be expected, as some community members
need more assistance in following instructions. Non-government organizations can do
the role of help here”.
Expert A also stated the importance of sharing responsibility between government
and non-government entities: “All emergency management systems are in fact a part-
nership between governmental and non-government organizations to convey warning
messages effectively. We still need groups of national volunteers or social service
organizations to help rescuing operations such as evacuation, managing shelters, or
guiding people to safe places”. The Government Representative concurred: “It is very
important to consult a number of groups about this mobile solution to be used in the
future for managing emergency. We have government agencies, voluntary groups,
and non-government organizations, all of which have different plans and strategies
during emergencies. To ensure acceptance and sustainability of the to be used emer-
gency management solution, we have to consult these groups and get their participa-
tion, otherwise the acceptance of the system will be low”.
6.9 Toward a collaboration between government and private telecommu-
nications providers
Realizing the fact that deploying mobile emergency solutions depends on using the
infrastructures of the private telecommunications companies and effective collabora-
tion between government and these companies becomes a necessity in achieving the
success of these services. The Government Representative suggested that there should
be also good collaboration among these companies themselves [i.e., telecommunica-
tion companies], which should be in harmony with the trends of the government to
manage its national emergency management. He stated: “we cannot talk about a trend
in future emergency services without considering a real partnership between govern-
ment and telecommunications companies, and between these companies”.
6.10 Financial compensations for telecommunications companies within
emergency management solutions
The participation of mobile phone companies in national emergency systems is in-
evitable. As a result, a compensation mechanism from the government to these com-
panies should be. Expert D contended: “everything during a mobile emergency solu-
108 http://www.i-jim.org
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
tion needs support from the telecommunications companies. They provide us with
data and they are the only entity capable of providing necessary infrastructure of
networks, cell towers, communication tools, as well as data about people who are
located in a designated geographic area. This data is vital in sending government
messages to people”. The Expert continued “the cost factor is a major limitation for
their participation in a national mobile emergency solution as these solutions may
constitute a heavy burden on their infrastructure. Telecommunication companies will
also need more investment to scale up infrastructure in order to enable government to
deploy its emergency services when needed. A financial schema for compensating
these companies should exit in any future solution”.
6.11 Opt-in and opt-out system design issues
In regard to the opt in/opt out design aspects, a number of interviewees agreed that
every person should receive the warning message without having the opt-in option
built into the location-based mobile phone warning SMS and CBS. In addition, most
viewpoints concurred that the SMS and CBS services should not have an opt-out
option. In other words, each individual is obliged to receive the warning notification
if they are located in a defined emergency area. The role of the government is to pro-
vide societal securitisation to protect citizens and residents from harm. As the Rescue
Center Manager pointed out, “if you make it an opt-in system does that mean you let
all those who opt-out just die? There is something inherently unethical about such a
systems design. Expert B emphasises that during an emergency there is no opt-out, “it
is compulsory to receive the warning message”.
7 Acknowledgement of Presence of Some Limitations in Mobile
Service in Emergency Management
Like any technology, Mobile Service in Emergency Management has some limita-
tions.
• However good the mobile service, it cannot achieve a comprehensive coverage to
all citizens. Mobiles might be simply switched off, phones might be on ‘silent’
mode, or just out of reach. Therefore, mobile emergency management system must
be in combination with another type of warning system. Some experts suggest a
technique of sending messages simultaneously whilst releasing sirens. This will
make people switch on radios or T.V.s, or pay attention to service providers’ in-
structions.
• Some people may misunderstand warning messages.
• Messages may not contain the whole information due length restrictions especially
with SMS technology.
• Some disasters impose tremendous challenges that cannot be overcome by mobile
warning solutions, as these disasters may be spreading too quickly, or have a more
elusive predictability.
iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018 109
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
• Information provided by warning system is limited in its precision and accuracy, as
such, the public’s expectations should be reasonable.
8 Conclusion and Recommendations
In this study, a discussion was made about the idea of using mobile phone services
for emergency management in developing countries, taking into account the econom-
ic barriers for investing in dedicated emergency management solutions in such coun-
tries. Related definitions were first presented in regard to the concepts of emergency
and emergency management, and an overview was provided about the main mobile
phone technologies that exist today which theoretically can be utilized in the domain
of emergency management.
The study then presented the findings of the qualitative content analysis of eight
semi-structured interviews that were carried out with experts and officials in fields
related to emergency management, telecommunications, and national security. The
findings did suggest the feasibility of mobile services as a convenient national emer-
gency management solution, but a number of technical and non-technical require-
ments are still needed to be met before the success of such solution deployment.
The study offered vital recommendations extracted throughout interviews towards
the possibility of deploying Mobile Emergency solutions in developing countries as
per the following:
• The limitations of existing technologies should be carefully considered before
deciding which to exploit.
• An emergency management mobile solution should be adaptable to future technol-
ogies as well as existing technologies.
• Social equality must be taken into consideration, designing a solution that can
target all types of mobile devices; traditional and smartphones.
• Public education and awareness campaigns should be implemented before any
solution.
• Design should support many emergency situations, and not be strictly designed to a
specific type of emergency.
• The use of mobile emergency solutions only in case of a large-scale severe emer-
gency.
• A partnership between the government and non-government organizations, and
collaboration between governments and private telecommunication providers is in-
evitable to successfully deploying mobile emergency solutions in developing coun-
tries.
• Government financial compensation for the telecommunications companies is
recommended.
In addition to the base requirements for the emergency management solutions, the
requirements for the service/message itself should consider, but are not limited to the
following:
110 http://www.i-jim.org
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
• The message generated from the solution should be clear and easy to understand
• Enable discrimination in messages sent to different categories of recipients; mes-
sages for recipients in near traumatized areas differ than those for far away ones.
• Reach all versions of mobiles in use, including old ones.
• Provide messages with supportive characteristics for those with special needs, such
as a light accompanying the message for blind, or vibration accompanying the
message for deaf.
• Be able to reach people who are roaming through other mobile networks.
• Be able to convey warning messages in a number of languages. This becomes very
important when there are tourists from other countries.
• Have the ability to function even when communication networks are loaded.
• Offer the option of resending message in case first trial of sending failed.
• Have the ability to repeat messages as long as they are active.
• Be clear enough to ensure that recipients are sure they are the one concerned.
• have accurate in timing, offering enough time for people to take necessary precau-
tions.
• Be precise in expectations (or in noting the expected degree of hazard).
• Be complete but brief.
Based on the findings of this study a number of research issues may need further
investigation. First, there is a stressing need to investigate the social acceptance of
mobile government emergency solutions in the context of developing countries. Is-
sues related to privacy, solution design issues, perceived quality of services, and peo-
ple’s trust in government and its emergency mobile solutions are all possible topics of
important future examination. Second, since this research has selected Jordan as the
case for a developing country there is a call for other researchers to conduct compara-
tive studies to stand upon a more comprehensive set of requirements that can influ-
ence the success or failure of mobile emergency solutions in developing countries.
9 References
[1] Ahmed, J. U. 2015. Role of Department of ICT in Promoting ICT Uses in Disaster Risk
Reduction. Department of ICT, Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and IT, Bangla-
desh Available: http://doict.portal.gov.bd/sites/default/files/files/doict.portal.gov.bd/page/
b8c2b656_1834_4e79_a8ad_ba18d396c08e/Role of Department of ICT in Promoting ICT
Uses in Disaster Risk Reduction.pptx
[2] A Leximancer Company 2017, Leximancer: From Words to Meaning to Insight, viewed
28 March 2017 .
[3] A Leximancer Company 2017, Leximancer: From Words to Meaning to Insight, viewed
12 April 2017 .
[4] Aloudat, A. 2012. Privacy vs. Security in National Emergencies. IEEE Technology and
Society Magazine, 31, 50 https://doi.org/10.1109/MTS.2012.2185729
[5] Aloudat, A. & Michael, K. 2013. Towards a Conceptual Model of User Acceptance of Lo-
cation-Based Emergency Services. The International Journal of Ambient Computing and
Intelligence, 5, 17-34. https://doi.org/10.4018/jaci.2013040102
iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018 111
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
[6] Aloudat, A., Michael ,K., Abbas, R. & Al-Debei, M. 2011. The Value of Government
Mandated Location-Based Services in Emergencies in Australia. Journal of Information
Technology Research, 4, 41-68.
[7] Canton, L. G. 2007. Emergency Management: Concepts and Strategies for Effective Pro-
grams, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4018/jitr.2011100103
[8] Chin, W. H., Fan, Z. & Haines, R. 2014. Emerging technologies and research challenges
for 5G wireless networks. IEEE Wireless Communications, 21, 106-112.
[9] Department of Telecommunications. 2015. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP-2015) for
Telecommunication Services for Responding to Disasters. Ministry of Communication &
IT, Government of India. Available: http://www.dot.gov.in/dataservices/standard-
operating-procedure-sop-2015-telecommunication-services-responding-disasters
https://doi.org/10.1109/MWC.2014.6812298
[10] Disaster Management Centre. 2011. Legal Framework for Disaster Management and for-
mulating the National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP). Government of Sri Lanka.
Available: http://www.dmc.gov.lk/NEW/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Final-Draft-NDMP-
Body-20 Nov.2013.pdf
[11] Etikan, I., Musa, S. A. & Alkassim, R. S. 2016. Comparison of Convenience Sampling and
Purposive Sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5, 1-4.
[12] Gandy, S., Kern, K., Norton, J. & Toth, A. 2014. Emergency Disaster Preparedness and
Response. OLA Quarterly, 14, 1.
[13] Gojmerac, I., Preinerstorfer, A., Ruggenthaler, C., Schuster, C., Almer, A., Stocker, R. &
Heussler, V. Public warning and alert system for Austria. 3rd International Conference on
Information and Communication Technologies for Disaster Management (ICT-DM), 13-
15 Dec. 2016 Vienna, Austria. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.7710/1093-7374.1217
[14] Gorbil, G. & Gelenbe, E. 2013. Resilient Emergency Evacuation Using Opportunistic
Communications. In: GELENBE, E. & LENT, R. (eds.) Computer and Information Sci-
ences III: 27th International Symposium on Computer and Information Sciences. London:
Springer London. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICT-DM.2016.7857206
[15] Haddow, G., Bullock, J. & Coppola, D. 2013. Introduction to Emergency Management,
Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4594-3_26
[16] Jagtman, H. M. 2010. Cell broadcast trials in The Netherlands :Using mobile phone tech-
nology for citizens’ alarming. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 95, 18-28.
[17] Lohmar, T., Ibanez, J.-A., Zanin, A. & Blockstrand, M. 2009. Scalable push file delivery
with MBMS [Online]. Ericsson Company. Available:
https://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/corpinfo/publications/review/2009_01/files/MBMS.pdf
[Accessed April 12 2017]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2009.07.005
[18] Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. M. 1994. Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Source-
book, Thousand Oaks, California, SAGE Publications, Inc.
[19] Modular Integrated Services Limited. 2016. Development of Best Practices in Information
Infrastructure Security Management. Department Of New Media And Information Securi-
ty, Nigerian Communications Commission, Government of Nigeria. Available:
http://www.ncc.gov.ng/documents/710-development-of-best-practices-in-information-
infrastructure-security-management/file
[20] Office of the Regulator. 2014. Samoa National Emergency Telecommunication Plan
(Netp)- Final Draft. Government of Samoa. Available: http://regulator.gov.ws/images/
publication/technical/NETP-Reviewed-Draft-2014-2.pdf
[21] Perry, R. W. 2007. What Is a Disaster? In: RODR´ıGUEZ, H. A., QUARANTELLI, E. L.
& DYNES, R. (eds.) Handbook of Disaster Research. 1st ed.: Springer Science+Business
Media, LLC. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-32353-4_1
112 http://www.i-jim.org
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
[22] Poushter, J. 2016. Smartphone Ownership and Internet Usage Continues to Climb in
Emerging Economies: But advanced economies still have higher rates of technology use
[Online]. Pew Research Center. Available: http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/02/22/smart
phone-ownership-and-internet-usage-continues-to-climb-in-emerging-economies/ [Ac-
cessed February 12 20017].
[23] Pringle, R., Michael, K. & Michael, M. 2016. Unintended Consequences: The Paradox of
Technological Potential. IEEE Potentials, 35, 7-10. https://doi.org/10.1109/MPOT.
2016.2569672
[24] Quarantelli, E. L. 1986. What Should We Study? Questions and Suggestions for Research-
ers About the Concept of Disasters. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disas-
ters, 5, 7-32.
[25] Robinson, O. C. 2014. Sampling in Interview-Based Qualitative Research: A Theoretical
and Practical Guide. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 11, 25-41.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2013.801543
[26] Rosenthal, U. 1998. Future Disasters, Future Definitions. In: QUARANTELLI, E. L. (ed.)
What is a Disaster? A Dozen Perspectives on the Question 1st ed. New York: Routledge.
[27] Smith, Z. W. 2014. Privacy and Security post-Snowden: surveillance law and policy in the
United States and India. Intercultural Hum. Rts. L. Rev., 9, 137.
[28] Sylves, R. 2014. Disaster policy and politics: Emergency management and homeland secu-
rity, CQ Press.
[29] Tanzi, T. J., Sebastien, O. & Harivelo, F. 2014. Towards a Collaborative Approach for
Disaster Management Using Radio Science Technologies. Radio Science Bulletin, 25-36.
[30] Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Lebanon. 2012. Emergency Communica-
tions Framework: Document For Consultation. Government of Lebanon. Available:
http://www.tra.gov.lb/Library/Files/Uploaded files/Draft Emergency Communications
Plan Consultation - April 2012 - English.pdf
[31] The European Telecommunications Standards Institute. 2017. Digital cellular telecommu-
nications system (Phase 2+) (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
(UMTS); LTE; Use of Data Terminal Equipment - Data Circuit terminating Equipment
(DTE - DCE) interface for Short Message Service (SMS) and Cell Broadcast Service
(CBS) (3GPP TS 27.005 version 14.0.0 Release 14) 650 Route des Lucioles, F-0692 So-
phia Antipolis Cedex, FRANCE. Available: http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/127000_12
7099/127005/14.00.00_60/ts_127005v140000p.pdf
[32] The GSMA- Disaster Response, Mobile Network Public Warning Systems and the Rise of
Cell-Broadcast. 2013.
[33] Tran, N. H. & Pedler, D. 2016. The impact of extensive loss of telecommunications on
general practice: A case study in rural Victoria. Australian Journal of Rural Health.
[34] Udu-gama, N. Implementing Inclusive ICTs: Mobile Cell Broadcasting for a Public Warn-
ing System in the Maldives. Second India Disaster Management Congress, 2009 New Del-
hi, India. 1-22.
[35] United Nations Development Program. 2016. The Human Development Report 2016
’Human Development for Everyone’ [Online]. Available: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/de
fault/files/2016_human_development_report.pdf [Accessed.[
[36] Zhang, Y., Drake, W., Xiao, Y., Olshansky, R., Johnson, L. & Song, Y. 2016. Disaster Re-
covery Planning after Two Catastrophes: The 1976 Tangshan Earthquake and the 2008
Wenchuan Earthquake. International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters.
iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018 113
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
10 Authors
Dr. Mahmoud Ali Al-dalahmeh (MAIS’07) holds a Doctor of Philosophy in
Management Information Systems the Faculty of Informatics at the University of
Wollongong, NSW, Australia(’08);a Master of Applied Finance from the University
Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia (’01). Al-dalahmeh has developed exper-
tise in e-Commerce/e-Business models and approaches in both large and small busi-
ness IS philosophy, management, and diffusion. He has produced 8 publications in
journals and conferences on these topics. Al-dalahmeh also has teaching experience
over a range of IS subject areas. He is presently an Assistant Professor in the Depart-
ment of Management Information Systems, at the Facultyof Business, at the Universi-
ty of Jordan, and has previously been employed as an associate lecturer at the Univer-
sity of Wollongong, Australia. Al-dalahmeh has several publications, including in
Proceedings of the Intellect base International Consortium, Journal of Information
Systems Technology & Planning – JISTP, USA, International Journal of Accounting
Information Science and Leadership – IJAISL, USA, his paper "E-Commerce Self-
Efficacy and Intention to Shop Online: the Empowerment of Internet marketing, Intel-
lectbase International Consortium, Academic Conference, Atlanta, USA, awarded
Academic Excellence (e-mail: m.aldalahmeh@ju.edu.jo)
Dr. Ons Al-Shamaileh is an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of the
Information Technology Management Program at the College of Computer Infor-
mation Technology, American University in the Emirates. Dr. Ons earned MSc and
PhD degrees in E-business technology and Interactive Systems from the University of
Manchester, UK. She has several publications in the areas of Human Computer Inter-
action and user experience. She is currently researching the factors affecting user
judgments of interactive systems. Dr. Ons taught at the University of Manchester/UK
and Hamdan Bin Mohammad Smart University/UAE before joining the American
University in the Emirates. Besides her teaching experience, Dr. Ons is UX certified
from Nielsen Norman Group NN/g and has worked as user experience consultant for
various projects in the UK and UAE. (e-mail: Ons.shamaileh@aue.ae)
Dr Anas Aloudat (MIEEE’09) holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Information Sys-
tems and Technology, from the University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia (’11); a
Master of Science in Computing, from the University of Technology, Sydney, NSW,
Australia (’03), and a Bachelor of Science in Computing, from Mu’tah University in
Karak, Jordan (’93). He is presently an Associate Professor of Information Systems
and Technology in the College of Computer Information Technology, at the Ameri-
can University in the Emirates, and has previously been employed as an associate
lecturer and research assistant at the University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
Aloudat has published extensively in various journals, book chapters, and conference
proceedings. His research interests include the social implications of the emerging
technologies, government informatics, as well as research related to social media,
biometrics, and location-based emergency services. Aloudat serves as an associate
editor with IEEE Technology and Society Magazine and a reviewer for several inter-
national journals. He also serves as a consultant for a number of leading companies in
114 http://www.i-jim.org
Paper—The Viability Of Mobile Services (SMS And Cell Broadcast) In Emergency Management…
Jordan on IST business solutions, information management, and quality issues in
higher education. (e-mail: anas.aloudat@aue.ae)
Dr Bader Yousef Obeidat is an Associat Professor of Information Systems and
Information Technology at the University of Jordan. His research interests include but
are not limited to 1237 Impact of knowledge management Downloaded by University
Of Jordan At 00:14 03 March 2017 (PT) electronic commerce, internet banking, in-
formation systems, electronic markets and auctions. Dr Obeidat has published more
than 38 papers in information systems and business. (e-mail: b.obeidat@ju.edu.jo)
Article submitted 02 May 2017 Published as resubmitted by the authors 201 .
iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018 115
iJIM – Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018
The Viability of Mobile Services (SMS and Cell Broadcast) in Emergency Management Solutions: An Exploratory Study