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The American People

Facts

What the American People need to know:

  1. When disasters strike, whether they are natural, accidental, or man-made, it has always been vital that alerts and warnings be reported accurately and in a timely fashion to those who may be in danger.
  2. It is the policy of the United States to have an effective, reliable, integrated, flexible, and comprehensive system to alert and warn the American people.
  3. Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, or IPAWS, is the solution for effective public alerts and warnings.
  4. IPAWS allows alerting authorities to write their own message using open standards. The message is then authenticated by the IPAWS Open Platform for Emergency Networks -- or OPEN-- to be delivered simultaneously through multiple communications devices reaching as many people as possible to save lives and protect property.
  5. IPAWS must ensure the President can reach the American people, but the IPAWS PMO recognizes that most alerts and warnings are issued at a state and local level.
  6. IPAWS alerts and warnings are location-specific and therefore more relevant to those receiving the alert.
  7. Through the use of open standards such as the Common Alert Protocol, IPAWS allows for growth and integration with future consumer technologies.
  8. In addition to the President, alerting authorities include State, local, territorial, and tribal public safety officials who are designated within their level of government as an authority responsible for communicating emergency alerts and warnings to the public.
  9. After completing FEMA-sponsored training, alerting authorities will be authenticated for access to IPAWS. They will then be able to use Common Alerting Protocol compliant emergency and incident management tools to create location-specific alerts that are scaled to cover areas as big as their entire jurisdiction or a much smaller area within their jurisdiction. Once created, the alert can then be sent to IPAWS OPEN for relay to the Emergency Alert System (EAS), NOAA Weather Radio and other National Weather Service systems, the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS), and other private sector systems. The specific geographic area to which these alerts can then be delivered depends on the capabilities of the dissemination channel used.
  10. Once the alert is received from the alerting authorities, IPAWS OPEN authenticates the source and validates that the alert input conforms to the Common Alerting Protocol standard and IPAWS profile. This provides a standard for everyone across all levels of government as well as the private sector.
  11. While older systems relied on audio and text-only systems, IPAWS OPEN makes picture and video feeds possible and allows for the seamless incorporation of emerging technologies.
  12. Emergency alerts will be delivered across multiple pathways to the American people.
  13. Alerts will be delivered by the Emergency Alert System, using AM, FM, and satellite radio as well as broadcast, cable, and satellite TV.
  14. The Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) will send alerts to cell phones and other commercial mobile network devices based on their location, even if cellular networks are overloaded and can no longer support calls, text, and emails.
  15. State, local, territorial, and tribal alerting systems such as emergency telephone networks, giant voice sirens, and digital road signs may also receive alerts from IPAWS OPEN and future alerting technologies and systems can be easily integrated into the IPAWS.
  16. When disaster strikes, the IPAWS allows emergency managers and alerting authorities at all levels to send one message to more people over more devices, to save lives and protect property.
  17. No matter where you are: at home, at school, at work, or even on vacation, you can get life-saving alerts.

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Key Benefits

Why the American People want to know the facts:

  1. Alerting authorities will send life-saving information to the American People before, during, and after a crisis.
  2. IPAWS alerts and warnings are location specific and, therefore, more relevant to those receiving the alert.

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Calls-to-Action

Recommendations for the American People:

  1. Respond appropriately to instructions from alerting authorities and public officials once an alert or warning has been issued.

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For more on IPAWS components, including OPEN-Aggregator and PEP please click here.

To return to the FEMA IPAWS Home Page, click here.

Last Modified: Wednesday, 21-Dec-2011 15:31:33 EST