Twitter launches emergency alert system

This is a very creative idea from twitter that will most likely benefit a lot of people. Nice to see a company doing something that won't earn them any money, but will help people out.

On 3.11, when the phones were down, I found out what exactly happened via twitter and called my family via Skype. Every time the train stopped for a year after that, I checked the earthquake magnitude and epicenter on people 's tweets. Good move on Twitter's side, but they're only formalizing what has already been going on for a long time.

Many US helicopters responded to these tweeters during the 3/11 Tomodachi Mission.