[californiadisasters] Disaster Notification in the 21st Century

Disaster Notification in the 21st Century

By Ryan Sandler, Warning Coordination Meteorologist

Let's say you live in Klamath Falls, and you are spending your summer vacation in Bandon. You and your family are walking along the beach admiring a beautiful sunset by taking pictures with your phone and sending these beautiful images to friends. Suddenly, your cell phone sounds an unusual alert along with an unfamiliar vibration. You look at your phone and see a short text message that reads, "A major 9.0 earthquake has occurred off Alaska. A tsunami warning is in effect". You quickly decide to leave the beach, go inland to higher ground, and find out what's happening.

This is what the future of emergency notification will look like, and it will revolutionize the way you receive emergency messages. Currently, most people receive emergency messages through television, radio, or NOAA Weather Radio. Receiving real-time emergency messages automatically on your cell phone will be a major advancement in the warning system that will save lives. This new alert system, known as the Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN), will be tested in New York City and Washington, D.C., before the end of 2011. All of the major wireless providers volunteered to participate in this program. Here are the key features of this plan:

1) You need to have a new mobile device to receive these warnings.

2) The text message will be accompanied by a unique audio alert and vibration. The text message will be short (fewer than 90 characters) and will not contain URLs to avoid network slowdowns as everyone tries to get to that web page.

3) There will be only three types of text messages. The first mes-sage will be a Presidential Message for a national emergency. The second message will be for Amber Alerts, and the third message will be for public safety emergencies such as tornadoes.

4) The text message will be geographically targeted. For example, you live in Roseburg but have travelled to Klamath Falls for the day. A tornado warning is issued for part of Klamath County, including the city of Klamath Falls. You would receive the text message because it will be sent to cell towers around Klamath County.

5) Alerts are free and will be pushed out, meaning you don't have to opt in. You will have the ability to opt-out, except for Presidential Messages.

The PLAN system will not be available in our area until at least the summer of 2012 and only newer phones will have this capability to receive these emergency alerts. This notification system will supplement the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and will eventually have the ability to reach most of the nation. As warning meteorologists, we are left wondering how many people would have been safer in the Southeast during the recent historic tornado outbreak if their cell phones had alerted them to the danger sooner.

Source: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mfr/skywarn/summer2011.pdf

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