Burke County uses emergency alerts on phones to combat misinformation after Hurricane Helene

MORGANTON, NC (WBTV) – Burke County residents received a first-of-its-kind emergency alert on their phones Thursday – an alert that indicates not an Amber Alert or a weather event, but rather misinformation circulating on social media.

This came after the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene, which left over 290 homes and businesses uninhabitable. As recovery efforts are underway, Burke County emergency officials are also battling a wave of false information.

“The county is making progress,” said Chris White, deputy director of Burke County Emergency Communications. “We are making great progress… now it's about recovery. So we will be in this recovery process for some time.”

He said progress has slowed somewhat as residents have called with concerns about FEMA or scam sites stemming from social media posts.

One particular problem is a fake FEMA website – Disasterassistance.org. Do not go to this site. It claims to provide disaster relief, but is designed to steal personal information. The actual FEMA website where residents can apply for assistance is DisasterAssistance.GOV.

“Disasterassistance.org is the scam website that people go to,” White explained. “As soon as you log in, you get a bunch of pop-ups saying you have stimulus checks and all this stuff, and that’s not true.”

White also addressed rumors circulating on social media that FEMA is not coming to Burke County or trying to take over. He emphasized that FEMA will be there to help with recovery efforts.

“Misinformation spreads panic, right? And the panic spreads fear,” White said. “People who are cut off from communication with the world and who are the first to see misinformation on social media after the return of the tower are starting to panic.”

This misinformation campaign is particularly frustrating for Burke County officials, many of whom have been personally affected by the hurricane. For example, Assistant Director White lost eight houses on his family's land.

[PREVIOUS COVERAGE: ‘There’s nothing left’: Family of emergency worker in Burke County loses 6 homes to Helene]

“We live here. Every one of us working on this incident lives here,” he said. “We work here and want to improve our employees. That's why we took on this task to help citizens. We're from North Carolina, we're neighbors and we're helping neighbors, and we're here to take it a step further and be able to help our neighbors a little better than just being out here on the street. So we are not there to take power. We don't want your country. We don’t want your home.”

Burke County residents are urged to be careful with information they see online and to rely on official sources for updates on recovery efforts.

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