Trapped girls update Facebook instead of calling cops

It'd be nice to be able to call for help in a foreign country. The US government only gives out 800 numbers to call embassies, etc. Those can not be reached in a foreign country. At the Mumbai incident, only Americans had trouble contacting their consulates, as all other countries had given out local numbers.

wow, what is this world coming to, when i was in my car accident last year, first thing that pop in my mind was calling 911 asap. i think parents and schools should teach the importance of calling an emergency number first than callin for help via network and pray someone is online.
even with the case of the councilman, he should call 911 they pick up fast, or he could have yell for help too.
seriously, if radio is down, then the network is down. im 19 and this is how i think...

Obviously, these methods should only be used as a last resort. Nothings faster than picking up the phone and hitting 911.

are things really getting that stupid. It is so difficult to dial 911 in an emergency situation?

This is just too stupid.

Sure. Why not? It can work when others fail. All options should be used.

those girls have issues cause why would they us facebook why not call rescue services. At least use twitter cause more people will hear u. lol

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? IT SHOULD BE AUTOMATIC TO CALL THE EMERGENCY NUMBER, 911, 000 OR WHATEVER IS IN USE AT THAT TIME. HOPING SOMEONE READS A TWEET OR FACEBOOK COMMENT IS ASKING TO BE LET DOWN, IF NOT DIE. GET A CLUE!!!!!!!!!!!

The use of Facebook and Twitter as a way to communicate in an emergency is a great idea. As a college student my university uses text messages to notify us in the event of an emergency. As an avid Twitter user who follows many local government Twitters, I have been informed of things happening through that media many times. Because of the low bandwidth use of text messaging and Twitters integration with text messaging, it is an extremely viable emergency option.

What these girls did was completely inappropriate. They were in a personal emergency and should have used the appropriate means–000- to communicate this to the appropriate authorities. I find reasonable what the Atlanta City Councilwoman did, however after posting that Tweet, she should have still made an attempt to call 911. Also, Retweeting in that situation wouldn't really help, rather someone calling Atlanta Emergency Services would.

I think that the death of Michael Jackson showed how vulernable these social networking sites are to traffic overload. I think there needs to be great infrastructure improvements before they can be relied on for emergencies.

911 is being advertised for death or almost death emergencies. You're supposed to know your local police number. If you don't you can ask for it on twitter 😉

Also, maybe their phone was not in range, no bars, and they were using a wi-fi. Life is short, get help however you can.

Good job girls!

Wow, that's pathetic. Obviously their parents are morons. Either that, or these girls are simply lacking intelligence and common sense. Are they in a specialty school? Are they mentally handicapped? That's the only excuse I could see viable for this complete lack of mental ability.

Read it there young girls they probaly are slow....... yea hard to defend them XD But like i said they were 9&10

Clearly, it depends upon the situation at hand.

I don't think using social networks is a good way to communicate about emergencies. For one thing, people do not always take each other seriously in places like that. Also, because you never know who will be there at what times, it is not a reliable communication media for emergencies. And, as mentioned in the article, it is much faster to call 911 directly. I do believe that alternate communication forms could be useful at some point, such as text messages, but using an interface as complex as social networks is just pointless.

But given the circumstance they may not have been able to contact athourities for some reason. not being able to possibly put a phone up to your ear to talk doesn't make you a moron.

It isn't true that being able to text to their facebook means they could dial 000. Very often text messages will succeed where voice calls fail. The authorities need to clearly ask if the girls tried 000 first rather than assuming they didn't. I'll bet they tried calling, it didn't work, and in desperation they tried sending the text to the place it was most likely to be seen quickest.

If not, they are typical pre-teens. That is to say: not too bright.

Times like this I *really* wish principles of Natural Selection still applied to the human population.
WTF, mate?

Another question- Facebook requires users to be at least 13. Why do these girls have accounts?

For what it is worth, if you get the help you need in time, the method used does not matter. People simply will grab at any lifeline they think they can use in an emergency.

Handling emergencies and selecting the best communications option is not a commonly taught skill, so why the surprise when someone steeped in a communications mode uses the mode most familiar to them to summon help?

I guess I'm just an old dull thud, but I do have my emergency comms procedures thought out ahead of time so that is one more thing I don't have to sweat in an emergency.

Texting can be a quicker way to communicate an emergency rather than dialing 911, holding and then describing your emergency.

Let's not forget that hackers have been trying to use social networks too... hacking into peoples' accounts and messaging their friends saying they're in trouble and need them to send money to help. Currently it doesn't work that well because it is less believable to call for help on social networks rather than directly; if the use of social networks for emergency purposes is encouraged then more of such scamming schemes may succeed, being hidden amongst the genuine calls.

Every country has a No Such Agency monitoring every such thing
International effort to GPS reference all addresses is underway
Update SOS to SSSOOOSSS so no mistakes ?

Universal save me code, that works on all devices, is a simple concept.

You are making a big deal out of nothing and missing the point entirely. The bottom line is, in an emergency, you do whatever you can to get help. Clap, yell, blow a whistle, bang on the drums, send out smoke signals, dial EMS or post a message online ... does it really matter so long as it works? Now, with that being said, nothing replaces good solid education and training on how to respond in emergency situations. The girls used the first tool they were comfortable with but parents, teachers and society in general, are responsible for the education and protection of our youth.

My children have been brought up being taught First Aid for themselves and others. We have had fire drills, swimming lessons, life jacket training and many discussions on how to respond to emergencies as part of our "street safe" training.

Shame on you all if you shirk your responsibilities to safeguard our children.

Wayne S.
– on assignment in Rayong, Thailand.

It seems automatic that the young women should have dialed the equivalent to our 911. However, perhaps the emergency system in their city is like Long Beach's – the largest Southern Californai city that doesn't answer directly wireless calls. And the re-routing can result in long delays to emergency calls from cell phones – one instance reported in the local newspaper of a 30 minute delay in answering. I would guess probably not, but if I called 911 first and got a busy signal or had to wait on hold (as happens in Los Angeles), I'd probably twitter my plight at the same time and ask for help . . .

What's the big deal? Should you use 911 if possible...absolutely. I can see where a text based 911 could be beneficial. Maybe a text platform could be developed for 911 operators. Maybe I've been watching to much tv, but hostage situations could benefit from something like this. Certainly could be beneficial for folks who are mute, or don't speak the native language. It never hurts to have something like this as a option.

Wait a minute....these girls were 9 & 10. Why were they in a storm drain ? Where was their supervision ? Am I out of date or is it normal for 9 & 10 years olds to be twittering ?!? What happened to dollies and playing house.......why can't kids have some time as kids anymore ?

I don't know why everyone is complaining about this...the girls got the help requested didn't they? So...what's the big fuss? How about this...how about when YOU need to rouse emergency services, you use the method that is most familiar to YOU, and let everyone else in the world do the same.

Simply because YOU would have done this, that and the other once you read a story from the comfort of your home or office or wherever, doesn't mean a 10 and 12 year old child will do the same.

Furthermore, I've notice that all of you chose to log your complaints on here and it makes me wonder how many of you contacted Facebook to complain to them, or to the emergency response team for answering such an apparently 'horribly unthinkable' rescue.

Personally I think the girls should be rewarded for their bravery and intelligence to get help, have the wherewithal to find out what streets they were on and to actually decide to help this person by any means necessary and available to them at the time than to sit there and hypocritically bash them because YOU may have done something different.

9 & 10 year olds should not be on facebook in the first place. It is a place for college students and adults to re-connect. Who knows who could be looking at their profile and reaching out to them that they don't even know.

It is useful if you are in a situation where someone has you trapped somewhere and you can text but not talk on the phone. if you talk on phone they will discover where your hiding. that situation warrants some online rescue source.

I would have called for help and posted ....done everything i could to get out of the stormdrain

Why not add a version of 911 on FaceBook so posters could post an emergency anywhere to be forwarded to emergency help closest to the incident? How often does 911 have problems especially during emergencies like Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans when the mayor couldn't communicate even with his police force? If cell phones are out maybe cable or sattelite would work.

Two times when I used 911, did not get any response or reply, both the times I seriously wanted other means to contact authorities, but I did not have any (that was around 10 years back when twitter or facebook did not exist).

No matter how you get help, you should do it. Of course 911 first, but any way to help yourself/others shouldn't be discounted.

A social/emergency network seems like a bad idea though. Think about all those stories that we all (and I'll be the first to say) laughed at. People calling 911 to complain their cheeseburger has too many onions on it or other such nonsense. Imagine how much worse it would be with a networking site.

Something wrong with the 911 implementation.on.
Is it the number ? Police, fire truck, swat team, ghost busters ?
What if your 9 or 1 is damaged ? call 666 ?
Or twitter your friends ?

Considering the number of times 000 operaters treat calls like this as hoaxes (despite this being against policy), I understand why they didn't. OTOH, they maybe should have at least *tried* 000 before posting.

At the rate that my mobile battery drains, I'd be afraid to rely on only one contact. I think I would send a post and then dial emergency personnel if I wasn't in immediate danger. With my luck, my battery would die in the middle of telling rescuers where I was. At least by posting messages to Twitter, Facebook, etc. I've just extended my network of people who hopefully will be contacting emergency personnel for me.

The girls would have used a nearby Free Wi-Fi or Data services to update the Facebook. The Voice services might not be available due to the storm or perhaps 911 or 000 could have been busy as some mentioned in here.

Another situation could be that either 9, 1, or 0 key is somehow stuck on their phone.

I guess they aren't morons

It might be a good idea to implement some form of online text-based emergency service, however the main reason to do this is because apparently people are beginning to forget what a telephone is actually for. How in the world does anyone, age 4-100, not call the police or authorities before making a facebook update? How as a parent or a person with any basic moral sense let their children who are daft enough to make a dumb decision like that out of their immediate sight? Do they still have to use plastic silverware and cover electric outlets? are these children still using safety scissors?

Force of habit, that is.

All they do in their waking moments is facebook... never tried 000.

Blame the internet.

i guess if there really is no other means of communication then posting on line could help... but really, who knows if some people would actually believe it or not? It really is a little scary also, that people would rely more on an internet website then on actually calling someone for help. Too many people joke around on websites like that or someone may think that someone has hacked their account or is playing a prank on others.

John Ballinger so naive are you. The story could have read, Trapped girls update Facebook instead of calling cops found dead because nobody noticed their message.

I find it interesting that people who know no more than what is in the article feel compelled to judge the girls as stupid idots.

Justin and Lillian obviously have a very high opinion of themselves and have never done anything dumb or questionable.

Technology does make you dumber.

I think this is very interesting issue – as technology changes the way we do things in life. Yes, this is an unconventional way of contacting the proper authorities or specifically in this case, rescue services. I also agree that this is not a sure way to get help and children should be taught to understand that. But...

The times are changing friends and technology is leading the way. And if old technology, such as the telephone, is not the preferred way to communicate... then 'new ways' should be explored.

Text messaging and more so... emailing technology has evolved enough to show that there is much potential. The 'new ways' should be explored. (I feel I must reverberate.)

I believe that these young girls are pioneers!

I believe I would rather post a message on facebook rather than call the cops myself. With their inadequate training and unlimited power in decision making, coupled with a prevalent tendency for gender discrimination and harassment, likely the two preteens would find themselves in juve for trespassing.

A prime example of how stupid most of humanity is. And, I'm not just referring to the story of the two girls. That's a mixture of lack of parenting and creative nature. I'm referring to the moron's posting comments.

"Tweet-le dee and tweet-le dumb...er". God help us we are doomed for extinction and it's at the hands of the mass majority.

Oh, TTYL my FaV rEaLiTy ShOw iZ oNnnNn!!! OMFG!! ROTFL!!

[ JDHH YNK LCJDH YEKK DL – Figure that one out and you are a genius! ]

Ugh. If 2012 fails, there is still hope for the asteroid. Yes. That one is REAL.

911 is 3 keystrokes. Typing :"help, i need police real now." is 28. whats faster?

As much common sense as it is to call '000' or '911' or whatever it is where ever you are, it would NOT hurt to have Emergency text numbers, blogging, or social media sites that are easily accesible.

Not all emergency scenerios are the same as anyone knows, and for one reason or another perhaps having a conversation on the phone with someone isn't as appropriate or safe as maybe sending a quick "911 please help!" tweet. What if I am on a boat (lake or ocean) and there's a terrible strom and my radio is down and I have no cell phone coverage and only a laptop with satellite coverage.... I would definitely want to Tweet for help or post an update of Facebook/MySpace explaining to the outside world my situation.

I have an iphone, and sending a tweet for help would take me less than 15 seconds..... making a phone call and, "Please stay on the line Sir...." and having to explain my situation to someone that may not understand my accent or dialect may be more time consuming and or frustrating. Maybe I am trying to be quiet and not give away where I am.

Regardless.... I strongly feel like since we are all noticing that this practice of 'Help Messaging' is becoming more and more common as technology advances and intrudes more into our personal lives, then it wouldn't hurt to establish a "911" Twitter Account, or an Emergency Facebook/MySpace page.... it just gives us all more choices.

Hold your horses people, if these girls were not from Australia, they may not have known about dialing 000 to get the police.

From the story I doubt the girls tried to call 000 their equivalent of 911 first since it was not mentioned. I would think it would have been said they tried to call emergency services would were unsuccessful. I think the point of the report is to make us all aware to teach the children in our lives what to do in an emergency. Social networking is fine for what it is designed for it should not be used as the primary way to get assistance in an emergency. As an additional method along with calling emergency services and family if a relative can be helpful in the situation.

Even if people are using social networks to ask for help, it still accessed through the cellular network. Cell phone networks can be overloaded in crisis situation also. But the idea of a "data burst" option on a smart phone could be useful. Something that send a quick, energy efficient, message with simple information such as gps, time of message and whether the person is moving or not. A panic button for a smartphone. I bet that will end up an iphone app.

Every post here is dumb. Including mine. The fall of humanity is not because of technology, its because humans have evolved to a "me me me me" society. Facebook is just another form of communication. Who cares if they used 911 (000) or not....really. They were saved, end of story, the world goes on, well at least for another two years. Thank God its going to be over.

I think this is perfect. If idiots are going to update their Facebook status instead of calling the emergency services, maybe, just maybe, we'll end up with less idiots in the world. I've got my fingers crossed!

These 2 nearly earned themselves a Darwin award.

So rather than call locally they sent a web update around the globe and back. To me its a miracle facebook can be updated from around the globe inside of a drain pipe. 911 not only takes priority on the call system but can provide you with reserve battery power when you are in a sticky situation,

I used to live in the country it took 20 minutes for the police to show up. If I could have tweeted my neighbors i would have had 10 people ready to help in 5. Although I think these girls made the wrong choice I don't think the issues is that black and white.

There are so many things wrong with this situation.

How about texting their parents if they weren't able to make a call? If 9 and 10 year olds have cell phones, their parents do too.

Kids can text 10,000+ messages a month, but they don't have the common sense to A. stay out of storm drains or B. call/text their parents or contact emergency services if they're lost? I guess their turn by turn navigation didn't work for storm drains!

We're doomed.

Sometimes you can still send text messages when you phone signal is weak. Thank God they where found okay.

OMG- what is your problem? I'm a 10 year old kid and I got lost in a storm drain from crying out loud. Have you ever done that? My BFFs told me that they will be online so I tweeted them. They told their parents and everything worked out. What is the big deal? Only you old folks uses emergency services. It is easier to tweet than remember all those many numbers. My parents are happy I sent a tweet. Everyone Tweets and uses Facebook. Get a grip and a life OK? : ) ROTFL.

Ok I am a 14 year old girl and after reading this all I cold think of was what is there problem? Has America really come to people relying on the phones or internet access that we go straight to tweeting or updating instead of calling for help. For these 2 girls, what if no one was online? Theyould have been dead if no one would have noticed there update and the police got there because they never called in. Is this really whats happened to America?

Whether its 911, 000, Tweeter, Facebook etc etc...the point is that these girls were saved. Yes, in theory they should not even be on FB or in some countries not even have access to a mobile phone.

I think as some have said, it all boils down to education and YOUR needs at that time and what are available to you. Maybe they do not have access to a phone signal? or maybe they aren't that "close" with their parents. As I am sure many of you have experienced before, it can sometimes easier to tell your friends about some things rather than telling your parents.

In emergency cases we should use all forms of communication/technology available to us and I don't think its the right time and place to be picky. In fact you may be in such a stress that your brain may stop functioning so you may only come up with one way of communication.

they should have just prayed to god, the almighty, he and only he can lead you on the right path....amen

I forgot the number for 911...... i'll just post something on my blog

Understanding that twitter is pretty awesome in someway but using Twitter as helpline seems Unbelievable...
Will it work if the Police have a FB or Twitter account too... ?

[...] young girls (ages 10 and 12) found themselves stuck in a ... well, odd predicament. They found themselves lost in a storm drain... how they got there... err, I'm sure that's a story [...]

[...] girls in Australia got caught in a drain and instead of dialing 000 (their version of 911), they posted their predicament on Facebook. It was promptly seen by a friend and they were rescued by the fire department. They were only 10 [...]

[...] options became abundantly clear during a crisis in 2009, when two girls trapped in a storm drain updated their Facebook statuses before contacting emergency services. In a similar scenario, a man used Twitter to report a [...]

[...] options became abundantly clear during a crisis in 2009, when two girls trapped in a storm drain updated their Facebook statuses before contacting emergency services. In a similar scenario, a man used Twitter to report a [...]

[...] options became abundantly clear during a crisis in 2009, when two girls trapped in a storm drain updated their Facebook statuses before contacting emergency services. In a similar scenario, a man used Twitter to report a [...]

[...] options became abundantly clear during a crisis in 2009, when two girls trapped in a storm drain updated their Facebook statuses before contacting emergency services. In a similar scenario, a man used Twitter to report a [...]

[...] abundantly obvious for the duration of a disaster in 2009, when two ladies trapped in a storm drain up to date their Facebook statuses prior to getting in contact with unexpected emergency solutions. In a similar situation, a [...]

Only 4 hour wait? Seriously I would love a 4 hour wait since reality is more like 24 hours. Having werkod the ER here's some real rules of the ER:1. We are NOT first come first served! If you want that then go to a fast food joint.2. Having to wait is a good thing- it means you're not going to die in the next 5 minutes.3. The more you annoy us and the bigger an ass you are the longer you wait.4. It's called an EMERGENCY room for a reason. If you're not spraying blood across the room, have a bone sticking out, can talk in full sentences and still have a pulse- you're probally not an emergency!5. In the same mindset of #4: hangnails, bad dreams, drunkeness, flu are NOT emergencies. Use common sense and stay home.6. Niceness goes a long ways. So does patience.7. Unless you have a medical license or degree don't argue about why the little old lady with backpain was sent back before you. If you do have a medical license then why didn't you fix it yourself or come work here and help us out?8. If you're diabetic then bring something to eat with you. It's not our job to feed you.9. Unless the kid is sick don't bring your children with you. We have enough crybabies without having to listen to them. Also watch and disciplene your brats.10. SIT DOWN, SHUT UP AND WAIT YOUR TURN OR GO THE F ELSEWHERES!

[...] increasingly cross all generations, as shown by the 2009 incident in Australia where two girls updated a Facebook page about being trapped in a storm drain as well as examples of people Tweeting for help instead of [...]

[...] The girls were rescued unharmed, though authorities were alarmed by the situation. As quoted by CNN, rescuer Glenn Benham [...]

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