30-April-2012 NATIONAL
EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM UPGRADE - Wireless Emergency
Alerts
To enhance public safety, a
free Wireless Emergency Alerts service is rolling out.
WEA
(pronounced “wee”) messages are text-like alert
messages received by your mobile device during
an emergency in your area. The purpose of WEA is to provide
an increasingly mobile American
public with a free and fast way to receive critically important
information.
EMAS allows public safety authorities to use FEMA’s
IPAWS Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS-OPEN)
to send geographically targeted, text-like Wireless Emergency
Alerts to the public. WEAs will relay Presidential, AMBER,
and Imminent Threat alerts to mobile phones using cell
broadcast technology that will not get backlogged during
times of emergency when wireless voice and data services
are highly congested.
CMAS/WEA complements the existing Emergency Alert System
(EAS) which sends warnings to television and radio via
broadcast, cable, satellite, and wireline communications
pathways.
To learn more, see the Facts
sheet. |