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The day long anticipated by U.S. broadcasters has arrived… FEMA has adopted CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) as the messaging format for their Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). Of interest to broadcasters is the previously-stated FCC rule that this announcement now starts a 180-day clock for broadcasters to purchase and install CAP EAS equipment. However, as of this writing at the end of the day’s events, that 180-day clock rule appears uncertain.
FCC Commissioner Robert M. McDowell was featured in a session at the NAB Radio Show in Washington, DC just hours after the FEMA announcement was made. During this session, Commissioner McDowell said he would support extending the 180 days but can’t guarantee it. He stated that it’s up to the FCC chairman’s office. A manufacturer asked if he should start producing equipment. He was told to ask the chairman’s office for clarification on when the 180 days actually starts, and everyone was told to direct their concerns to FCC.
Stay tuned to this space for further details as they become available.
Here is the official FEMA announcement and link to more detailed version.
Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:07:33 -0500 WASHINGTON,D.C.– The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) today announced the adoption of a new digital message format for the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), the nation’s next generation emergency alert and warning network. The goal of IPAWS is to expand upon the traditional Emergency Alert System by allowing emergency management officials to reach as many people as possible over as many communications devices as possible, such as radio, television, mobile phones, personal computers and other communications devices. The current Emergency Alert System relies largely on radio and television to communicate to people.
Link to FEMA Announcement: FEMA Announces Adoption Of New Standard For Emergency Alerts
Elizabeth Trocki of Touchstone Consulting contributed reporting content to this article.
Officials in Hutchinson, Kansas recently reported that the secure phone lines used to set off emergency sirens in the area were compromised. It took officials several days to determine the source of the issue and resolve it. An excerpt of the article is provided below.
In the last week of August and the first days of September, AT&T’s secure phone system controlling the sirens was affected by a “software glitch” that has since been fixed, according to Messamore. During that time, the phone lines for each of the sirens were no longer secure, she said.
“The lines were opened up, so anyone who dialed those specific numbers could set off the tornado sirens,” Messamore said.
Officials think people accidentally calling a wrong number – the phone numbers assigned to the sirens were local numbers – set off the sirens, she said.
“The way the system is set up, the first ring means the siren will go off for one minute, the second ring means the siren will go off for two minutes, and so on … ,” Messamore said. “People were probably misdialing, and they would hear the phone keep ringing and ringing before they’d finally hang up.”
The full article can be found at the following link: http://hutchnews.com/Todaystop/sirenz2010-09-18T21-48-36
This one falls under the Response to Emergencies aspect of AWARE. Many of us are aware of the role EDXL-HAVE played in the Haiti disaster. The article below has more insights into how modern technology is helping disaster victims through texting, interactive maps and remote language translation services.
Recent disaster relief efforts involve not only the traditional, on-site help of responders and volunteers, but also remote groups of tech-savvy people.
In an article on the BBC website, Jamillah Knowles says Crisis Commons is one such organization that used new technologies, such as texting and interactive mapping, to help with this year’s Haiti earthquake relief effort. “For instance, it has helped beef up the search capacity of the Open Street Map project,” says the article.
Open Street Map is a project that aims to become a world map that anyone and everyone can contribute to. Following January’s earthquake in Haiti, an Open Street Map of capital city Port Au Prince “was so comprehensive that urban search and rescue teams on the ground started to download it as it suited their needs so well,” Knowles writes. The map allowed volunteers to identify hospitals, roads, or damaged buildings, the kind of information that first responders on the ground find invaluable.
Crisis Commons also helped out by finding a whole global network of Creole-speaking people to help communicate with Haitians during the crisis. And their “Mission 4636” project allowed people to submit requests for emergency aid and report their location simply by sending a text message to 4636.
The recent floods in Pakistan have generated requests for people to translate for Pakistan, via Crisis Commons and Open Street Map. Meanwhile, short-term projects known as Crisis Camps have allowed Crisis Commons to help provide developers for the Sahana disaster management system, Drupal development for the Disaster Accountability Project, and has helped locate information and translate messages, says the article.
To read the BBC article click here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11134297
