FEMA to Manage USA's Nationwide SMS Emergency Alerts System

The USA's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced that it is planning to set up a nationwide SMS alerts service for emergencies, as mandated by the Warning Alert Response Network (WARN) Act.

It is anticipated that the Alert Aggregator/Gateway system, which has not yet been designed or engineered, will be able to verify that federal, state and local emergency alerts are sent by 'authorized senders,' and then transmit the alerts to mobile phone operators, which will, in turn, send them to their cellular subscribers in specific geographic areas.

In a related matter, Maj. Gen. (Ret) Martha Rainville, assistant director of the National Continuity Programs Directorate, said that FEMA will announce its position on adopting the Common Alert Protocol (CAP) within the next 30 to 60 days.

"Arriving at standards and protocols that work for everyone is a complex and timely process, she said. "But FEMA is working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Weather Service, state, local, tribal, and territorial emergency managers, nonprofit sector groups, and the FCC to develop CAP profiles that that will support the various alert and warning systems can be integrated into the various alert and warning systems and needed by the state, local, tribal, and territorial emergency managers to protect their residents.

Rainville added that FEMA is committed to further developing the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System to allow for the integrated and interoperable use of modern technologies to deliver alerts and warnings to more people in more locations through more dissemination paths.

Posted to the site on 8th June 2008