Despite warnings from organisations that people should not rely on SMS to get help in an emergency, NSW's State Emergency Services still view it as a viable way of alerting people about flood and storm warnings.

The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) is currently trialling an SMS opt-in service in Lismore, to alert people about storm and flood warnings.

Use of SMS for emergency services has come under the spotlight in recent months after the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) issued a warning against its use for 000 emergency services.

Paul White, executive manager of telecommunications licensing at the ACA, said that because SMS is a store-and-forward process there's the possibility the sending of a message might fail. Delivery times also vary, he added.

But NSW SES director of operations Dieter Gescke has defended the organisation's moves, emphasizing that it's an additional service the organisation is providing, not replacing its existing strategy of alerting people via broadcast radio, the mass media, and door knocking.

Users register for the service on the NSW SES's Web site, and are then registered via SMS. Information provided to users via SMS will include storm and flood warnings, as well as evacuation information and safety tips. Information is tailored to users via the registration process, where they indicate their street name, suburb and post code.

-This is just one more avenue for us to get people information," Gescke said. -[We'll] still use broadcast radio and mass media and door knocking."

Gescke said the SMS service, MySES, was just one part of its Web strategy. He is hoping that down the track the NSW SES will be able to give users the opportunity to let the organisation know about their needs via their Web site prior to a natural incident.

When asked by ZDNet Australia about the appropriateness of SMS for services such as these, Gescke said that he thought it was question of what you're using SMS for. From the NSW SES's point of view, he said that they were trying to help provide people with important information to prepare for situations such as storms.

-We're trying to make sure that people understand that this is part of a total stragegy, not a strategy in itself," Gescke said.

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