EMERCOM offers free distress signal application for iPhones

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry /EMERCOM/ has developed an application for iPhones called Mobile Rescuer, which allows to make a one-touch call to services and to notify relatives of a trouble. It is available for a free download already at the AppStore. The Information Department of the Ministry told Itar-Tass that the application’s the main page contains a red button "Send an SOS signal ". "By clicking it, a user can call emergency services and notify by a text message friends, relatives and acquaintances about an emergency situation he or she is facing,” the source said. “It will be sent automatically when you press the button. After downloading the application to an iPhone a user should include into emergency contact numbers the telephones of relatives or friends." In the department stressed that the "Send an SOS signal " button allows calling emergency services from anywhere in Russia, because the application determines automatically the region in which the user is and the cell operator under subscription. "In addition, the application contains references that demonstrate how to provide first aid and rules of conduct in various emergency situations, and help finding the nearest emergency response services depending on a user’s location – a fire department, a search and rescue squad, a police department and a medical institution." Presentation of the application is scheduled for January 24, 2011. In the near future, the ministry plans to develop similar applications for other phones. Earlier, Russia’s Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu said that mobile phones could have a special red alarm button, by clicking which a users submits a distress signal. "Our information service together with their partners has prepared a very interesting project,” he said. “I think we shall present it soon."