Portage eclipse hashtag to provide emergency information
The Portage County Emergency Management Agency and its social media arm, Portage Prepares, have established #portagetototality as the hashtag to find local eclipse information on Facebook.
The hashtag does not replace or circumvent local municipal or township messaging platforms. The focus is to consolidate all the information potentially received by EMA for easy access by Portage County residents and visitors.
With a large number of visitors expected, EMA officials have been planning since last year for the event. The agency has been bringing together law enforcement and fire agencies, local government officials and staff of community agencies to mitigate possible problems, including traffic, crowd safety and the need for general information, as well as real time alerts and road closures.
The solar eclipse will happen April 8. Portage County will be in the path of totality, which is when the Moon completely covers the Sun, from 3:14 p.m. to 3:17 p.m. The county is in the 124-mile width of the eclipse’s path, sitting on the southern limit. In Portage County, 99% of the county will experience totality.
EMA communications staff developed the hashtag, #portagetototality, to organize information from various public agencies and entities in an online location for before, during and after the eclipse.
The Portage County Emergency Management Agency operates within the realm of public safety and is tasked with the overall preparedness and resiliency mission of Portage County before, during and after disaster incidents. You can learn more about the EMA at this shortened link, shorturl.at/sORZ0.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Portage eclipse hashtag to help share emergency information
