Title: NHC template
1PROTECTING AMERICA THROUGH PUBLIC ALERT
WARNING NATIONAL HURRICANE CONFERENCE APRIL 6,
2004 Kenneth B. Allen Executive
Director Partnership for Public Warning
2PARTNERSHIP 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
3PUBLIC 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
4- 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
5CURRENT 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
6STATE OF US PUBLIC WARNING CAPABILITY
- Fragmented
- Inconsistent scales
- Lack of standard terminology
- Voluntary
- Dependent on TV Radio
- Lack of clear policies procedures
- Fail to warn those with special needs
- Lack of funding
- Little public awareness
- No strategy or vision
- Lack of leadership
7THE 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 dont know where to go
for additional information
8CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE PUBLIC WARNING
CAPABILITY
- All hazard
- Take advantage of existing assets (e.g. NWR
EAS) - Doesnt put anyone at risk
- Supports multiple warning sources
- Individually addressable
- Only authorized officials may enter warnings
- Enhance local control
- Secure, redundant available 24/7
- Open, non-proprietary architecture
- Uniform terminology
- Clear consistent messages
- Support multiple languages users with
disabilities - Available during power outages
- Multiple distribution channels using multiple
technologies - Easily understood by public
9CREATING AN EFFECTIVE PUBLIC WARNING CAPABILITY
- Not a technology problem
- Solution requires
- Collaboration consensus
- Enhancement of legacy systems
- Standards
- Policies procedures
- Education
- Leadership
10PPW 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
11ESTABLISH 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.
12THE 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.