Public Alerting- What it is and what to know

Public warning systems play a vital role in keeping your community safe during emergencies, covering a wide range of situations such as severe weather and natural disasters. Asking for you you to organize some of the information you need to know can help you when necessary.

Let's take a look at what systems are available

The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), a nationwide network managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), communicates official emergency information to the public through Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), the Emergency Alert System (EAS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Weather Radio (NWR). These systems ensure the rapid dissemination of critical information to the public during emergencies such as weather disasters, public health events, acts of terrorism, missing person alerts, and industrial disasters.

Management Agency (FEMA). The system sends official emergency and life-saving information to the public's cell phones through Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), provides information to radio and television through the Emergency Alert System (EAS), and broadcasts through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Weather Radio (NOAA Weather Radio).

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) are systems used to send brief emergency messages. These alerts are issued by authorized federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial public warning agencies.WEA broadcasts via cell phone towers and sends a message to any WEA-enabled mobile device in the local target area. This is the result of a partnership between FEMA, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and wireless providers to enhance public safety.

The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national public warning system that requires radio and television broadcasters, cable television, wireless cable systems, satellite and wireline operators to provide the President with the ability to address the nation within 10 minutes during a national emergency. These are alerts broadcast over television during emergencies.FEMA, with the assistance of the FCC and NOAA, is responsible for implementing, maintaining, and operating the EAS at the federal level.

NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) is a nationwide network of radio stations in the U.S. that broadcasts continuous weather information directly from local National Weather Service offices.NWR provides Americans with up-to-the-minute information from the National Weather Service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.NWR works in conjunction with the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) Emergency Alert System to form a NWR works with the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Alert System to form an “all-hazards” network that ensures subscribers have access to comprehensive weather and emergency information in one place.NWR works closely with federal, state, and local emergency managers, as well as other government officials, to broadcast monitoring, warnings, and after-action information for a variety of hazards. This includes natural disasters (such as earthquakes or avalanches), environmental disasters (such as chemical spills or oil spills), and public safety disasters (such as AMBER sirens or 911 call outages).

NWR is affectionately known as the “Voice of NOAA's National Weather Service”. It is a free public service provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The network includes more than 1,000 transmitters covering all 50 states, adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the U.S. Pacific Territories.

When public alerting is used

Officials utilize the public alert system to quickly disseminate information and simultaneously communicate it to as many citizens as possible. They will use these alert methods to disseminate information to the public during weather emergencies and natural disasters, such as tornadoes, wildfires, and hurricanes; public health information, such as medical emergencies, infectious diseases, and pandemic management (COVID-19); acts of terrorism, wars, civil disturbances, or shootings; missing persons and prison escapes (Amber Alerts); post-disaster emergency management, such as evacuation and volunteer information; industrial disasters such as gas leaks, explosions, and biohazards.