GAO Releases Report on Nation’s Emergency Alert System

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the report “Emergency Alerting: Capabilities Have Improved, but Additional Guidance and Testing are Needed.”

The report reviews the changing capabilities of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) in addition to the results of the nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). Primarily, the report highlights that while IPAWS has the capability to better disseminate alerts and warnings through the creation of the alert aggregator, barriers to implementation remain, including insufficient guidance, inability to test the IPAWS system, and insufficient public outreach.

The report also notes that during the 2011 nationwide test of EAS, approximately 82% of reporting broadcasters and cable operators received the alert and only 61% of  those reporting were able to redistribute the alert due to technical failures at public entry point (PEP) stations, shortened test length, and outdated monitoring assignments. As noted by the report, the implementation of IPAWS may help overcome some of the limitations traditionally seen in the “effectiveness of the national-level EAS.” 

Specifically, IPAWS will help to disseminate alerts and warnings to a larger portion of the population through dissemination in many modalities including radio, television, mobile alerts and “messages to specialized alerting devices for individuals with disabilities.”

http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/654135.pdf

June is National Safety Month

June is National Safety Month. Are you prepared? Natural disasters and fires can occur anywhere, at any time. Take the time during National Safety Month to practice your emergency drills with all your family members, and prepare an emergency kit filled with water, nonperishable food, a flashlight and blankets. Take into consideration your functional and access needs when preparing for an emergency. Tips on creating an effective plan and kit are available through the National Safety Council. Sign up today to receive free resources. http://goo.gl/k4gE9

Using Hashtags Efectively During a Crisis

Here are five pointers for using hashtags effectively during a crisis. Basically, you want to ensure that your tweets are planned for ease of retweeting in a crisis. Hashtags need to be:

• Compact – 10 characters or less. And remember that if you are linking, the tweet needs to be less 112 characters or less.
• Simple and easy to understand, i.e.; #foodsafe
• Share with partners, both internal and external, plus key stakeholders BEFORE the crisis hits.
• Organic. For example #bnefloods (Brisbane Floods). Choose hashtags that are easily understood and are straightforward. This is not the time for being witty and clever, although that is inevitable in SocialMediaLand.
• Test BEFORE crisis hits. Include Twitter language and hashtags as a separate but integral part of your next desktop or planning exercise. Brainstorm with your crisis team and advisers, and test, test and test so that you can iron out as many bugs as possible in advance.

Thanks to crisis bloggers Melissa Agnes and Kim Stephens for this information!