PROTECTING AMERICA
THROUGH PUBLIC ALERT &
WARNING
NATIONAL HURRICANE CONFERENCE
APRIL 6, 2004
Kenneth B. Allen
Executive Director
Partnership for Public Warning
PARTNERSHIP FOR PUBLIC WARNING
A non-profit, public-private partnership
Established in January 2002 by leaders of the emergency
management community
Participants include emergency managers and warning experts
from local and state government, the private sector, non-profit
community and federal government
Provides a collaborative forum where all the stakeholders are
working together
PUBLIC WARNING
Objective: (1) alert people at risk
(2) provide timely, relevant & accurate
information
(3) protective actions
Success: The actions people take
Benefits: Save lives, reduce property losses & speed
economic recovery
PUBLIC WARNING IS A SYSTEM –
NOT A TECHNOLOGY
Data collection & analysis
Decision to issue a warning
Framing the warning
Disseminating the warning
Public reception
Validation
Take Action
CURRENT US PUBLIC WARNING
CAPABILITY
MULTIPLICITY OF THREAT SCALES:
air quality, asteroids, computer viruses, earthquakes,
floods, hurricanes, nuclear plants, terrorism,
tsunamis, volcanoes, winds
DISSEMINATION CHANNELS:
NWR, EAS, TV & radio, local systems
STATE OF US PUBLIC WARNING
CAPABILITY
Fragmented Fail to warn those with special
Inconsistent scales needs
Lack of standard terminology Lack of funding
Voluntary Little public awareness
Dependent on TV & Radio No strategy or vision
Lack of clear policies & Lack of leadership
procedures
THE BOTTOM LINE
Existing systems fail to reach many people at
risk and reach many people not at risk.
When an emergency happens, many individuals
fail to get timely information, fail to
understand or act on the information and
don’t know where to go for additional
information
CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE
PUBLIC WARNING CAPABILITY
All hazard
Take advantage of existing Open, non-proprietary
assets (e.g. NWR & EAS) architecture
Doesn’t put anyone at risk Uniform terminology
Supports multiple warning Clear & consistent messages
sources Support multiple languages &
Individually addressable users with disabilities
Only authorized officials may Available during power outages
enter warnings Multiple distribution channels
Enhance local control using multiple technologies
Secure, redundant & available Easily understood by public
24/7
CREATING AN EFFECTIVE PUBLIC
WARNING CAPABILITY
Not a technology problem
Solution requires:
Collaboration & consensus
Enhancement of legacy systems
Standards
Policies & procedures
Education
Leadership
PPW ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Educated senior government officials & the public
Homeland Security Advisory System
Emergency Alert System
Common Alerting Protocol
National strategy & plan for improving public
warning
www.PartnershipforPublicWarning.org
ESTABLISH A NATIONAL GOAL
Create a national public warning system that
will provide people at risk during times of
emergency with timely and useful information
that will enable them to take appropriate
actions to save lives and property.
THE CHALLENGE
To collaborate on the development of a
national public warning capability that
will, during times of emergency, get the
right information to the right people at
the right time, regardless of their
location, the time of day or night and
any special needs.