CMAS Success During Superstorm Sandy - Guest Communications ...

In past editions of our newsletter we have shared articles about CMAS, the Commercial Mobile Alert System. CMAS is the interface to the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) service that wireless phone carriers began rolling out earlier this year. This free national alert system sends emergency notifications to the public through mobile phones during emergencies. This system went live about six months ago and was put to the test in late October when Superstorm Sandy swept across the eastern seaboard, and many are calling the messages a success.

Sarah Rich, with Emergency Management magazine, described how the messages worked in a recent article:

The WEA alerts, which appear in the form of a 90-character-or-less SMS message, function as a point-to-multipoint system; like a radio broadcast, the messages are sent to individuals in a target-specific area, whereas text messages aren?t location aware, according to CTIA ? The Wireless Association. What this means is that individuals who may be from the East Coast but were not physically in the storm-affected areas when alerts were being sent would not have received the messages.

During Sandy, the messages signaled for blizzard and flash flood warnings, mandatory evacuations and shelter-in-place messages depending on the location.
As described in a Emergency Management blog, ?It appears as if CMAS/WEA alerts were widely and successfully used throughout Hurricane Sandy?s assault on the northeast.? Messages were sent throughout Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, and different agencies took different approaches to alerting the public given the 90-character constraint.

?Blizzard Warning this area til 6:00 PM EDT Tue. Prepare. Avoid Travel. Check media. ?NWS?

?Go indoors immediately and remain inside. DO NOT DRIVE. Call 9-1-1 for emergencies only.?

?Flash Flood Warning this area til 3:45 PM EDT. Avoid flood areas. Check local media. ?NWS?

?In general, [the notifications] were well received,? Bristow said. ?I think there were some questions about, ?Hey I didn?t get it and somebody else did. Why is that the case???

Not all mobile devices are enabled to receive alerts. Cell phone models turn over quickly though, and the change is occurring rapidly. It is estimated that in another 18 to 24 months the majority of individuals will carry WEA-capable devices. According to Bristow, many of those who did receive messages still had questions about where the alert came from and how they received it.

An article posted on awareforum.org described this same issue. It described many people who received the messages during Superstorm Sandy, and at earlier times, discussed the messages on social media. They expressed their opinion, shared content and in some cases questioned the validity of the message.? Increasing public awareness about CMAS messages will help address some of the questions.

Sources:

http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/CMAS-Successful-During-Superstorm-Sandy.html

http://www.awareforum.org/2012/11/insights-and-recommendations-from-super-storm-sandy/

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Source: http://www.gcckc.com/gcc-news/cmas-success-during-superstorm-sandy

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