Canadian Shootings - SMS alerts used anywhere?

Like most people, I’ve been following the horror of the recent Canadian College shootings (Bloomberg article). 

I place myself in the situation and can’t quite comprehend what I’d do if I was sat in class and heard gunshots getting louder and louder.  I read about some teachers and students barricading them inside their rooms — which, to me, sounds like an eminently sensible approach. 

My mind then moved naturally to where we’d get our information from as we’re sat in the class listening to screaming, sirens, shouts and gunfire.  You couldn’t exactly call the college’s main telephone line to ask for a status update – I’d imagine you’d have thousands of students trying to get through to the one number.  Although I also read that the college had provided a recorded message statement to press. 

I wonder if that college has or was planning to implement an SMS text alerts system such as the one provided by Omnilert?   The college, much like many others in Canada I’m sure, has 7,000 day and 3,000 night students — all carrying mobile phones.  Managing information flow to these students  teachers and support staff during an event such as a shooting must be quite a critical requirement. 

I’m certainly no disaster management expert though. 

I’d like to see every educational institution – colleges, universities, high schools — implementing a near real time information service via text for all their stakeholders (students, teachers, support staff and of course, parents).