Link: textually.org: French Embassy Updates Citizens in Lebanon by SMS.
Have a read of this text from Textually yesterday:
According to The Age, which reports on complaints that the Australian government is not doing enough to get its citizens out of Lebanon, “the French embassy have got all the mobile phone numbers from all of their citizens and SMS them three or four times a day to keep them updated on the situation.”
I am both elated that the French Government’s Embassy has been thoughtful enough to integrate SMS into its core operation and deeply disappointed that no other Governments appear to have done the same.
What a brilliant use of the technology. In a situation such as the current issues in Lebanon, information for a worried expat (let alone the population as a whole) is critical. Even if it’s a text message from the Embassy to say something like ‘there’s no news yet but we hope to have some in 4 hours.’