FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate listed the Personal Localized Alerting Network ("PLAN"...also known as CMAS, Commercial Mobile Alert System) as one of the "great strides" made since enactment of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act. PLAN/CMAS will use the nation's cellular system to send alerts to targeted geographic areas. Fugate said "the cellular infrastructure may be able to bounce back quickly" when the physical infrastructure of an area is completely destroyed, as during the Haiti earthquake in 2010.
PLAN/CMAS hasn't been rolled out yet, but early stage pilots have been conducted in California and Florida with larger-scale pilots planned soon for New York City and Washington, DC. When it's available, local public safety officials will be able to send text alerts to mobile devices in targeted geographic areas. This will be at no charge to the public, and no one will need to sign up. They'll just need a mobile device equipped to receive PLAN/CMAS, which participating mobile companies are required to start shipping next year.
As Fugate said, "This new, free public safety system allows customers with an enabled mobile device to receive geographically targeted messages alerting them of imminent threats to safety in their area whether nearby cell phone towers are jammed or not". The program is voluntary for cell carriers, but most cell carriers have elected to participate (See our earlier blog post.)
Other "strides", Fugate said, are engaging the Whole Community in preparedness, consolidating FEMA's response teams, improving disaster case management, creation of the Disaster Emergency Communications Division and Regional Emergency Communications Coordination Working Groups (RECCWG), and increased use of social media.
All the best,
Rick
www.galainsolutions.com
