Public Alerts and Warnings
November/December 2006
“The prompt notification of the public during times of emergencies and disaster situations is critical to the safety and well being of our citizens.”
Emergency Alert System (EAS) (IPAWS/FEMA November 2005)
- 14,000+ broadcast television and radio stations
- 10,000+ cable TV systems
- Only 50-60% of broadcast stations relay state and local emergency messages
- More than 80% of EAS messages are weather-related; EAS was not activated during 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina!
- EAS technology is circa 1966
- President Bush signed an executive order to upgrade and overhaul the EAS on June 26, 2006
Other Federal Warning Systems (Partnership for Public Warning)
National Warning System (NAWAS) connects over 22,000 emergency management offices
- NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) delivers warnings in less than 10 seconds. NWS celebrated its 135th anniversary in 2005.
- NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) signals are accessible by 95% of the American population.
- Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) is the color-coded terrorist warning system. It has changed threat levels 16 times since its inception in March 2002.
National Weather Service (www.noaa.gov)
- Issues more than 400,000 weather bulletins each day
- Issues between 45,000 and 50,000 potentially life-saving severe weather warnings each year.
- Warning lead time for tornados has doubled to 12 minutes in the last 5 years.
- 3-4 day forecast is as accurate as the 2 day forecast 15 years ago.
Alerting Businesses (Partnership for Public Warning)
- 23% of all businesses do not monitor public alerting systems for warnings about terrorist threats or other potential disasters.
- Those businesses that do monitor public alerting systems primarily rely on:
TV |
53% |
EAS |
37% |
NOAA Weather Radio |
27% |
- Most businesses (85%) do not implement any specific actions when the Federal government raises the terrorist alert level.
AMBER Alerts (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
- Stands for - America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency
Response
- Uses EAS:
Recoveries |
305 |
Total Plans |
117 |
Statewide |
52 |
| Regional |
28 |
| Local |
37 |