Group calls for new disaster warnings

["Zack Clayton" <zack.clayton@EPA.STATE.OH.US>]

Group calls for new disaster warnings

By Robert Lemos

Special to ZDNet News

November 26, 2002, 8:44 AM PT





The diffuse emergency warning systems in the United States need a

revamp, which should include a mandated messaging standard, a panel of

emergency-response experts concluded in a report Monday.



The panel--formed of experts in disaster response from the government,

the academic and the private sectors--maintained that the current

hodgepodge of warning systems, including the Emergency Alert System and

the NOAA Weather Radio, don't work well.



"While many federal agencies are responsible for warnings, there is no

single federal agency that has clear responsibility to see that a

national, all-hazard, public warning system is developed and utilized

effectively," stated the Partnership for Public Warning in the report,

which called for the newly formed Department for Homeland Security to

take charge.



Click Here.  http://www.partnershipforpublicwarning.org/ppw/



President George W. Bush on Monday signed the Homeland Security Act of

2002, which moves several government agencies--including the Immigration

and Naturalization Service, the Coast Guard and the Secret

Service--under a single cabinet-level department's purview. The new

agency should now take point on creating a way to get emergency messages

to U.S. citizens, the report said.



The new system must be able to communicate with a variety of devices,

including computers, cell phones, pagers and any new electronic gizmo,

stated the report. For that reason, the report highlights XML

(Extensible Markup Language), as a likely candidate, but other protocols

might be desirable for noncomputing platforms.



In addition, the report says messages must be able to have a unique

identifier, a way to specify geographic regions for different levels of

warning, and encryption methods for validating the sender of the

message.



The panel also called for additional research into the efficacy of such

warnings, into the extent of trust that can be placed in the public as a

source of information about disasters, and into the effect of a great

number of false warnings on the public.



Currently, a variety of alerts can be sent out using several different

systems. The National Weather Service warns of dangerous weather

patterns and incidents in specific areas of the country, while the U.S.

Geological Survey alerts affected parts of the country of earthquakes,

volcanic eruptions and landslides. The Department of Justice issues

notice of criminal activities, and the Environmental Protection Agency

sends out warnings concerning air and water quality.



The Homeland Security Act of 2002 mandates that the Department of

Homeland Security provide warnings of terrorists acts.





Zack Clayton

Ohio EPA - DERR

email:  zack.clayton@epa.state.oh.us

voice:  614-644-3066

fax:       614-460-8249



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