Wireless Public Alerting An Alerting Authority’s Perspective Michael Gerber U.S. NOAA/National Weather Service

Wireless Public Alerting
An Alerting Authority’s Perspective
Michael Gerber
U.S. NOAA/National Weather Service
Silver Spring, MD
1
Overview
• NWS mission
• How the NWS uses WEA
– Types of alerts, statistics, and feedback
• Importance of accurate geotargeting
• Outreach we conducted in support of WEA
• A model for successful wireless alerting
2
NWS Mission
“weather, hydrologic, and climate
forecasts and warnings…for the
protection of life and property and the
enhancement of the national economy”
3
NWS WEA Update
4
WEA Messages Originated by NWS
CMAS Message
Warning Type
Tsunami Warning (coming late 2013)
Tornado Warning
Extreme Wind Warning
Flash Flood Warning
Hurricane Warning
Typhoon Warning
Blizzard Warning
Ice Storm Warning
Dust Storm Warning
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
NWS Warnings Activating WEA
(Approximate)
700
600
Wet monsoon
in southwest
500
Flash Flood
400
300
200
Ov er half
DecTOR
on Xmas
Half Aug TOR
f rom Isaac
Tornado
Severe
Weather
Season
Monsoon
ends
Dust Storm
Blizzard
143 TOR
Jan 29-30
Ice Storm
Hurricane
100
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
0
Importance of Accurate Geotargeting
•
Get people out of harm’s way
•
Increase relevance of warning and reduce false alarms
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Compared to warning by county, polygon warnings can reduce
warned area by 70% to 97%, especially in Western U.S.
•
NWS went to polygon warnings October 1, 2007
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Tornado Warnings (trigger WEA)
Flash Flood Warnings (trigger WEA)
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings
Special Marine Warnings
Severe Weather Statements
Flash Flood Statements
Marine Weather Statements
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WEA Feedback and Improvements
WEA credited with saving lives
•
WEA messages received within seconds of warning issuance
•
Elmira, NY (July 26, 2012) – 10 mile tornado. 2000 structures damaged. No major injuries.
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Adairsville, Georgia (Jan 29, 2013) – Vehicles stopped on I-75. Watched tornado cross highway.
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Jefferson Co, MS (Feb 21, 2013) – Woman looked outside and saw tornado backlit by lightning.
Family got in the bathtub. Tornado heavily damaged bedroom where they would’ve been sleeping.
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Yell and Pope County, Arkansas (Apr 10, 2013) – “I would have drove right into it. I was able to
stop and keep others at the store from driving into it with the info from the alert. Despite limited cell
service, I received cell alerts and was able to take cover in Jessieville and avoid driving into the
brunt of the storm.” – Red Cross Emergency Manager
Improvement made to geotargeting
•
A major carrier who was geotargeting the county in 2012 now geotargets the polygon.
Opportunities for improvement
•
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Signal bleed-over in rural areas where cell tower may broadcast to larger area
Blizzard and ice storm (e.g., 4 am wake up not appreciated by some)
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NWS Outreach
•
Kept costs down by integrating WEA outreach into that
already being conducted at our 120+ offices
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Set realistic expectations – WEA Is a bell ringer,
not a replacement for traditional warning systems
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Encourage emergency managers to leverage existing
outreach for their own - preparemetrokc.org/WirelessEmergencyAlertFlier.pdf
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FAQ (weather.gov/wirelessalerts), press releases, media interviews, and social media
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Webinars with up to 300 emergency managers at a time
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Collaborated with CTIA who links to WEA info for each major carrier at ctia.org/wea
•
NWS FAQ at weather.gov/wirelessalerts
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A Model for Successful Wireless Alerting
• From an alerting authority’s perspective (U.S. NWS)
• Based on lessons learned
• Technology is one part, but the people factor is huge
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Consider a Home
Roof – provides cover
Content/Features
•
Give the home function
•
Want to maximize usability
•
Home inspected before move-in
People
•
Need to know about the home
– That it exists
– How it meets their needs
– How its configured
•
Should have realistic expectations
– Home is big enough for family of 5
– Don’t expect to fit a large boat in
the garage
Foundation – what the home is built on
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Successful Wireless Alerting is Similar
Leadership – provides cover
Content/Features
•
Make up the actual alert
•
Want to maximize usability
•
Test to make sure it works
People
•
Need to know about the service
– That it exists
– It keeps you out of harm’s way
– How its configured
•
Need for realistic expectations
– If you get the alert, it impacts you
– But it is not a replacement for
existing alerting systems
Foundation – public safety and agreed upon rules
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•
While there will be rules (e.g., United States FCC rules for
WEA), public safety should be your driving/motivating force
•
Stakeholders should be encouraged to perform better than
minimum rules (e.g., carriers enable geo-fencing, companion
app, or other features which enhance effectiveness of alerts)
•
Lessons learned suggest rules should say more about:
– Public Outreach
– Uniformity of scheme used to target the warned area (e.g., towers
inside/outside the targeted area, geo-fencing, etc.)
– Making coverage areas and capable devices publicly known
– Local testing and test codes to educate the public about the service
Foundation – public safety and agreed upon rules
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Content/Features
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Alerting authorities
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–
–
–
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Carriers
–
–
–
–
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Concise alert message
Incorporate location information in alert
if possible, but don’t confuse public.
Recipient could be a local or a traveler.
Outline warned area by polygon or
circle rather than geo-political boundary
Be judicious in the alerts you send
Allow SMS message length for alert
Geopolitical and polygon/circle may be
in the alert, but you should geotarget
the polygon/circle for best geotargeting
Geo-fence to eliminate false alarms
Map alert for the user (e.g., plot
polygon/circle using built-in maps) and
plot recipient’s location as well.
ALL - test to make sure it works
People
•
ALL stakeholders must
communicate extensively with
customers to ensure:
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–
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They know the service exists, why,
what it does, and how to configure it
Realistic expectations of the service
Outreach to-do list
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–
–
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Notify customers of service in bill
Label box with wireless alert logo
Notify/train customer at point of sale
Prominent notice/support on websites
Media releases
Public Service Announcements
Webinars
Social media/YouTube
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Leadership – provides cover
•
Since complex partnership, would be a small coordinating
group that holds things together/keeps the pulse
– 3-5 people (Gov’t, wireless industry, and major alerting authority reps)
– Coordinates a schedule for stakeholder meetings, timing of outreach, etc.
– Coordinates a common set of FAQs/outreach materials and shares with
stakeholders for redistribution
– Serves as PoC/aggregator for issues impacting breadth of stakeholders
– Identify and/or establish mechanisms for stakeholder to stakeholder
feedback and technical issues (e.g., when a carrier specific issue is
reported to an alerting authority or vice-versa)
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Takeaways
•
Over 4,500 WEA pushed to cell phones by NWS since July 2012
•
Results promising. Lives saved. Opportunity for improvement.
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Accurate geotargeting and outreach are so critical
•
A model for success
– Public safety is king. Motivation should be to get people out of harm’s way
– People (i.e., outreach) are as important as the technology
– Need small coordinating group to lead
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Contact Information
Mike Gerber
[email protected]
301-713-0090 x170
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