ShoutSafe was conceived as a result of the 2004 Asian Tsunami. I was on vacation in Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit. Though my friends and I had been down on the coast just a few days before, we had travelled up into the mountains and only heard about the tragedy from our driver on the way back.

In the days immediately following the tsunami, most of our friends and family tried hard to get in touch with us. We spent a lot of time assuring them that we were OK. This gave me the idea of setting up a website for communicating with friends and family in the case of a disaster, incident, or other major event, and so ShoutSafe was born.

John Scott
ShoutSafe Creator

It’s best to play it safe – after all, disasters don’t care if you’re at home, traveling on business or on holiday. With a ShoutSafe account, you can send messages to friends and family quickly and easily, letting them know you’re safe. Using ShoutSafe’s blog functions, you can also keep everyone informed about your progress and experiences on a day-by-day basis – perfect if you’re on a long holiday or overseas for work. If you can’t access the Internet from your location, you can also send messages and update your blog by sending SMS text messages to ShoutSafe. Or get a Trusted Contact to update your info it for you. All you need is to get one message out to someone you know and trust. They can tell everyone else.

Natural Disasters
Major natural disasters occur more often than most people expect, and can hit anywhere, at any time. Recent times have brought a number of large-scale natural disasters, including the 2004 Asian tsunami, 2005 Pakistan earthquake, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and now the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011. In addition, smaller disasters occur on a regular basis and when you are away from home – any incident can be a cause for worry.

Man-Made Disasters
Man-made disasters can often be equally as devastating as natural disasters – sometimes worse. Events like the September 11, 2001 attacks, the London Tube bombings in 2005 and the Mumbai bombings of 2008 are a few of the man-made disasters that have occurred in recent years.

Trekking, Skiing and Outdoor Activities
Less terrifying, but equally as important, is the ability to let people know where you are going and when you plan on returning if you are out trekking, skiing or doing other outdoor pursuits. You can use your ShoutSafe account to set up a Timer message, making it easy to keep friends informed of your safety. (A Timer message is set to be sent at a predetermined date and time. If you do not disable the message before it is triggered, it will be sent to your selected contacts, who can react accordingly.) The ShoutSafe Itinerary and Diary allow you to keep a record of where you have travelled and where you plan to go next,. Using Google® Maps you and friends can see where you have been, will be and should be. Using SMS, your itinerary status can be updated while on the move. Alerts can also be sent to you to verify that you have arrived at your planned destination.