Wireless Emergency Alerts

Michael Gerber NOAA/Na0onal Weather Service Silver Spring, MD

On behalf of the NWS Southeast and Caribbean Regional Weather Ready Na0on Team

Overview
Alphabet soup - CMAS/WEA, IPAWS and iNWS WEA content, statistics, and feedback WEA geotargeting Getting the word out about WEA Becoming an Alert Originator

CMAS/WEA and IPAWS

CMAS/WEA is a free public mobile alerting service that targets your current location using radio like technology IPAWS is a national alerts aggregator run by FEMA that feeds CMAS/WEA and other alerting channels

WEA

iNWS
An experimental SMS text message alerting service for community decision leaders. You get alerts for the areas you ve subscribed. iNWS is independent of WEA and IPAWS.

iNWS and WEA Serve Different Purposes

iNWS
Available to community leaders Alerts for user defined areas Includes link to graphic and full text SMS subject to network congestion Still experimental

WEA
Available to general public Alerts for your current location No graphics or full text Not subject to network congestion Cemented in FCC regulations Cell broadcast bleed-over can cause false alarm for some
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Where to get CMAS/WEA

Built-in on newer cell phones
About 10 to 40 devices per major carrier May be called wireless alerts, CMAS, or government alerts (iPhone)

Available on Google Play for some Contact your carrier for questions

CMAS/WEA Capable Devices

As of 2/6/13
T-Mobile 1. BlackBerry Curve 9315 2. HTC One S 3. Nexus 4 4. Huawei Summit 5. LG Optimus L9 6. Nokia Lumia 710 7. Nokia Lumia 810 8. Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G 9. Samsung Galaxy S III 10. Samsung Galaxy Note II 11. Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G 12. Samsung t159 13. T-Mobile myTouch 14. T-Mobile myTouch Q 15. T-Mobile Prism 16. Windows Phone 8X by HTC http://goo.gl/QtA7r CTIA Website http://www.ctia.org/wea Cricket Sprint US Cellular Verizon 1. Blackberry Curve 9350 1. Sanyo Inuendo http://goo.gl/E6dPD 2. Sanyo Vero ATT 3. Sanyo Milano Cellcom 1. Samsung Galaxy SII (SGH-i777) 4. HTC EVO 3D 2. Samsung Captivate Glide(SGH-i927) 1. Motorola Milestone X2 5. Samsung Galaxy SII 4G Touch 3. Motorola Atrix 2 (mb865) 2. LG Converse 6. LG Marque 4. Samsung Galaxy Appeal (SGH-i827) 3. LG Optimus Select 7. Kyocera DuraMax 5. AT&T Fusion 2 (Huawei U8665) 4. Motorola Milestone 3 8. Kyocera Duracore 6. Alcatel 510A 5. Samsung Chrono 9. Kyocera Brio 7. BlackBerry 9360, 9810, 9860, 9900 6. Samsung Freeform 4 10. Samsung Trender 8. Alcatel 871A 7. HTC One V 11. HTC EVO Design 4G 8. iPhone 5 12. Samsung Transform Ultra http://goo.gl/Qf2DX 9. Motorola Razr Maxx http://goo.gl/xt3Lv 10. HTC Desire 4G LTE 11. Motorola Defy http://goo.gl/BQvoN 1. BlackBerry Curve 9350 1. Apple iPhone 4S 2. BlackBerry Torch 9850 2. Apple iPhone 5 3. LG Freedom 3. BlackBerry Bold 9930 4. Kyocera DuraPro 4. BlackBerry Curve 9310 5. Motorola Electrify 2 5. BlackBerry Curve 9330 6. Motorola Electrify M 6. BlackBerry Torch 9850 7. Samsung Chrono 2 7. Casio GZ One Commando 8. Samsung Freeform 4 8. Casio GZ One Ravine 9. Samsung Galaxy Axiom 9. DROID Incredible by HTC 10. Samsung Galaxy Note II 10. DROID Incredible 4G LTE by HTC 11. Samsung Galaxy S III 11. HTC Rhyme http://goo.gl/25Gxe 12. Rezound by HTC 13. Thunderbolt by HTC 14. HTC Trophy 15. LG Cosmos 2 16. LG Enlighten 17. Lucid by LG 18. LG Revere 19. Revolution by LG 20. Motorola Barrage 21. Motorola Citrus 22. Droid 2 by Motorola 23. Droid 2 Global by Motorola 24. Droid 4 4G by Motorola 25. Droid Bionic by Motorola 26. Droid Pro by Motorola 27. Droid Razr by Motorola 28. Droid Razr Maxx by Motorola 29. Droid X by Motorola 30. Droid X2 by Motorola 31. Pantech Hotshot 32. Pantech Jest 2 33. Pantech Marauder 34. Samsung Brightside 35. Samsung Convoy 2 36. Droid Charge by Samsung 37. Samsung Fascinate 38. Samsung Galaxy S III http://goo.gl/Qgkjd

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)

Alert Categories
Presidential Imminent threat to life and property (e.g., severe weather, HazMat, earthquake) AMBER Alert/child abduction

Opt-out/in differences between cell phones

Many droid phones break out imminent threats into two categories- Extreme and Severe Can opt out of Severe and still get Extreme Extreme
Tornado Warning Extreme Wind Warning Tsunami Warning* Hurricane/Typhoon Warnings

Severe
Flash Flood Warning Dust Storm Warning Blizzard Warning Ice Storm Warning

*Tsunami Warnings coming to WEA later in 2013

WEA Messages Originated by NWS

*When new alert or correction issued or time/area extended*
Warning Type Tsunami Warning Tornado Warning Extreme Wind Warning Flash Flood Warning Hurricane Warning Typhoon Warning Blizzard Warning Ice Storm Warning Dust Storm Warning CMAS Message Tsunami danger on the coast. Go to high ground or move inland. Check local media. NWS Tornado Warning in this area til hh:mm tzT. Take shelter now. Check local media. NWS Extreme Wind Warning this area til hh:mm tzT ddd. Take shelter. NWS Flash Flood Warning this area til hh:mm tzT. Avoid flooded areas. Check local media. -NWS Hurricane Warning this area til hh:mm tzT ddd. Check local media and authorities. -NWS Typhoon Warning this area til hh:mm tzT ddd. Check local media and authorities. -NWS Blizzard Warning this area til hh:mm tzT ddd. Prepare. Avoid Travel. Check media. -NWS Ice Storm Warning this area til hh:mm tzT ddd. Prepare. Avoid Travel. Check media. -NWS Dust Storm Warning in this area til hh:mm tzT ddd. Avoid travel. Check local media. -NWS

Legend tzT = timezone ddd= three letter abbreviation for day of the week

Quick Facts about WEA

Purpose to notify (i.e., a bell ringer), recipient should seek details from traditional sources Is a free opt-out service Uses cell broadcast technology Merely a radio broadcast, so the service doesn t track you Alerts not subject to network congestion as with traditional text messaging Major carriers are committed to producing WEA capable phones If you travel into an alert area after the alert was originally sent, you should still receive it Each WEA is only displayed once, so you don't receive duplicates WEA has a distinct vibration cadence and audio tone Alerts do not interrupt when you are in a voice or data session on the device

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NWS Warnings Targeting WEA

700 600

500
400 300 200

Wet monsoon in southwest

Monsoon ends

Flash Flood Tornado

Ov er half Dec TOR on Xmas

Half Aug TOR f rom Isaac

143 TOR Jan 29-30

Dust Storm Blizzard Ice Storm

Hurricane

100 0

WEA During Sandy/Superstorm

NWS
4 Flash Flood Warnings 13 Blizzard Warnings No Hurricane Warnings
High Wind Warnings issued, but don t currently trigger WEA Expect Service Assessment to being conducted (common when big storm)

NYC OEM
MANDATORY EVACUATION Zone A, Rockaways, Hamilton Bch, City Is. NYC.gov or 311 for details Emergency Alert in this area until 8:00 AM GMT Take Shelter Now NYC_OEM Go indoors immediately and remain inside. DO NOT DRIVE. Call 9-1-1 for emergencies only.
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WEA Feedback
Successes
WEA messages received within seconds of warning issuance Generally favorable feedback in big cities along east coast Elmira, NY (July 26) - Tornado with 10 mile path, 2000 structures damaged, people sheltered in response to WEA, no major injuries Orlando, FL (Dec) - Tornado hit 60+ mobile homes, only 2 injured Indiana (June 29 Derecho) - WEA alerted people of tornadoes in Indiana when NWR was down

Opportunities for improvement

Bleed-over in rural areas where cell tower may broadcast to larger area Pack more information into the 90 character message

Jury is still out on some warning types over WEA

Blizzard and ice storm Flash Flood

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Carrier TargeDng of the WEA Broadcast

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Note: Map is not drawn to scale and is for illustrative purposes only. Red polygon represents an alert issued at the sub-county level.

4 1 3 5 2

FCC reg says carriers can broadcast to county (towers 1-6), even if alert only at sub-county level As of 2/7/13, all major carriers target sub-county (a good thing) when sub-county alerts are issued - - Some carriers broadcast from cell towers within sub-county alert area (towers 2 and 3) Some also broadcast where signal overlaps sub-county alert area (adds towers 1 and 4)

Getting the Word Out

Set realistic expectations WEA Is a bell ringer, not a replacement for traditional warning systems Create one-page web/social media/handout preparemetrokc.org/WirelessEmergencyAlertFlier.pdf Media interviews, school and government officials, community events, PSAs, etc. CTIA links to WEA information for each major carrier at ctia.org/wea NWS FAQ at weather.gov/wirelessalerts Cell users should contact their carrier regarding WEA capability, to report issues, or seek assistance
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Becoming an Alert Originator

http://www.fema.gov/ipaws

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Takeaways
WEA/CMAS is a bell ringer and doesn t replace other alerting systems Many carriers rolled out and many phones WEA/CMAS capable Geotarget your alerts using polygons rather than FIPS only Get the word out about WEA/CMAS Apply with FEMA IPAWS to become an alert originator CMAS can be found in your phones Apps if your phone has it. It may be called CMAS, wireless alerts, or government alerts (iPhone) You can check with your carrier to see if your phone has or is CMAS capable Droid and I-phone App Stores have CMAS/WEA or FEMA/DHS type alert apps for several carriers that can be downloaded

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Questions
mike.gerber@noaa.gov steven.naglic@noaa.gov mark.lucero@fema.dhs.gov

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