According to a recent study, Public Safety Survey: Revealing Americans’ Awareness and Preparedness, by the Federal Signal Corporation, Americans lack basic awareness and general concern with regard to emergency response and preparedness, including their community’s emergency communications systems.
Unfortunately, as a society, we suffer from what I call the “CNN factor.” If CNN doesn’t announce it, it doesn’t exist. As a result, we have become dependent on sources of information that may have agendas other than emergency warnings. So how do people get correct information and respond accordingly to an emergency event?
Lack of Knowledge Regarding Local Emergency Alert and Notification Systems
Since the days of civil defense, ‘outdoor warning’ has been prevalent. Early on, populations were engaged and understood their role and responsibility. But with changes in technology and society becoming more transient, many jurisdictions are doing away with these outdoor warning programs.
In response, opt-in programs—where citizens must reach out to their local emergency management organizations and sign up to receive warnings—have increased. Unfortunately, these programs have very limited success because only a small percentage of the population signs up.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Steps In
The FCC’s Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national public warning system that allows the President, as well as local and state authorities, to address the public during national emergencies and weather events.
With our society’s dependence on smart devices, in 2008 the FCC issued a series of orders adopting requirements for a Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS), allowing commercial mobile service (CMS) providers to transmit emergency alerts to subscribers.
Details of CMAS Regarding CMS Providers
- Alert aggregator receives, authenticates, validates, and formats local, state, federal, and tribal alerts; then forwards alerts to appropriate CMS provider who processes and transmits them to the subscriber
- Must transmit alerts to areas no larger than the targeted county, but may transmit to areas smaller than the county
Details of CMAS Regarding Subscribers
- Automatically receive alerts if they have a CMAS-compatible handset; no opt-in is required
- Three classes of text-based alerts: Presidential, Imminent Threat (tornado, hurricane, etc.), Amber Alerts
- CMS providers must provide a unique audio attention signal and vibration on CMAS-compatible handsets for people with disabilities
- Those with a roaming agreement will receive alerts if:
- The operator of the roamed upon network is a participating CMS provider
- The mobile device is configured for and technically capable of receiving alert messages from the roamed-upon network
- Alerts will not hinder calls in progress
What Motivates Americans to Take Action?
I believe we are best motivated by those we know and trust. With only about half of the population taking action when warned, we must do a better job of buying in to the ‘whole community’ concept, building trust in relationships within our communities. With technology that can alert us during an emergency, we must be able to factor in false alerts without denying the entire system. Knowing there isn’t 100 percent accuracy, we have to trust the system as a tool has tremendous capability and opportunity to save our lives.
No matter what tool we have at our disposal, it has to be coupled with our own ability to recognize the environment in which we find ourselves. We, after all, possess the best technology—ability to reason.