At 12:10 p.m. Oct. 14, staff from Cornell University Police and University Communications conducted the annual fall semester test of three of several components of the Cornell Emergency Mass Notification System, said Peggy Matta, director of Cornell's Office of Emergency Planning and Recovery.

The alert siren/public address (PA) system was activated at the same time voice and text messages were queued to Cornell staff and students enrolled in the emergency notification system. For the fall test of voice and text messaging, Cornell used one of its two systems, AlertNow. It made approximately 5,800 voice calls in 15 minutes and delivered more than 14,000 text messages in 18 minutes. The alert siren/PA system test exposed a problem with the siren that serves the North Campus area. That siren failed to operate. Crews are being deployed to repair it as soon as possible.

The test is part of an ongoing effort to develop effective emergency communications on campus. "Cornell University is committed to protecting the health and safety of its students, faculty and staff," said Matta. "Emergency systems are in place that help us to quickly notify authorities and the campus population that an emergency situation is under way and then provide instructions on how to respond. We continue to encourage our campus community to register their emergency notification information so that they can be notified if and when the time comes."

To register, students can go to https://selfservice.adminapps.cornell.edu/studentcenter/. Select the links for Emergency Contact Info and Emergency Mass Notification.

Employees should go to https://ee.ohr.cornell.edu. Click on the Personal Information tab and select the links for EMN (emergency mass notification) Phone Number and Emergency Contact(s).