Twitter has launched a new emergency alert system called 'Twitter Alerts'. Users who sign up for the system will receive emails and SMS text messages from the government and aid agencies that have signed up with the program. To subscribe to the alerts, users can visit the alert page of an organization at Twitter.com/[account]/alerts/. Users can check the profile page of the enrolled agencies and just sign up. Twitter is also giving the users an opt-in procedure, where users can choose the local organizations that the want to subscribe to and can even turn off the alerts from a specific group at any time.

"Today we have a two-way street — residents are informed about hazards in real time and emergency managers receive immediate feedback on the consequences of a disaster," Fugate said in a statement.