Public TV stations get some political top-cover and DHS gets a national alerting network in a hurry. According to today’s announcement:
Today, the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) tested Phase Two of the Digital Emergency Alert System (DEAS). The project confirmed how the Department of Homeland Security can improve and broadcast public alerts and warnings during times of national crisis through the use of local public television’s digital television broadcasts... The event, which took place at Washington’s local public television station WETA in Arlington, VA., was combined with simultaneous events at several public television stations across the country who participated in the pilot.
These digital emergency broadcasts have several things going for them. First, the enormous bandwidth of those powerful digital transmitters means the new EAS can provide much more than a brief audio message and a cryptic on-screen crawl… it can include live or recorded video, multiple simultaneous languages, maps, signing for the hearing-impaired… as much information as government officials can generate in a hurry.
And because they’re based on the open Common Alerting Protocol, the same message that triggers multimedia over broadcast television can also activate targeted warning systems with a precision down to an individual city block… depending, again, on the warning officials’ ability to be that precise. Not just cellphones… think billboards and smoke-detectors and wristwatches, too.
Even though the initial PR stresses the high-concept aspects of TV and cellphones, this is actually the launch of an entirely new approach to public warning… no longer based on a broadcast-era “missiles inbound” system designed to reach the widest possible audience, but instead on an Internet-age platform capable of personalization and location-based delivery of relevant, carefully targeted alerts to precisely the people who care.
Still, Botterell’s Second Law holds that “The Problem is at The Input.” This new delivery technology, and the heightened public expectations it will foster, will mean hightened demands on public officials (and private-sector entities, too) to issue precise and specific warnings in time to make a difference. More on that challenge later…
[...] “The problem is at the input,” says emergency communications expert Art Botterell. “This new delivery technology, and the heightened public expectations it will foster, will mean hightened demands on public officials and private-sector entities to issue precise and specific warnings in time to make a difference.” [...]
All the discussion about EAP and alerting protocol in times of regional or national disaster is interesting. I have followed this thread with great interest. AS luck would have it, I was In Kona when their latest “big one” hit (their largest such quake in over 30 years.)
I had always heard about the extensive communication and public information infrastructure that Hawaii’s Office of Emergency Services had built up – in response to a number of major hurricanes and volcanic eruptions over the years.
On the morninng of October 15th, 2006, I and my wife were in a parking lot, just yards from the Kona shorline on the Island of Hawaii. Despite having lived in California for over 20 years, the 6.7 M quake that hit the island at 7:07 that morning was the biggest either of us had experienced. Got an opportunity to watch a (thankfully) small-scale disaster unfold in almost SIMS textbook fashion.
We both realized that this was a major quake, and moved to high ground ASAP just in case the seismic event generated a tsunami. We then did what most residents of the islands did … turn on our broadcast radios and tune around for news (unfortunately, this was the first trip I have taken in years without my two meter ham radio HT, so this was our only workable means of gathering information.) I have got to say that I was pretty stunned by what I heard.
For nearly two hours following the event, not a single station (and there were several still on the air on both AM and FM bands) had any news at all. The only thing on the air for the first few hours was a steady stream of pre-recorded info-mercials, religious programming and political talk. Ninty minutes later, ONE of the local stations in Kona broke into their programming to say that “there has been an earthquake, and stand by for further updates.” No EBS alert. No information on likely epicenter, magnitude, damage reports … or the possibility of tsunami (though, by then it would have almost certainly been too late) … NOTHING in the way of useful or necessary information – even from the area’s designated Emergency Broadcast station. Eventually, power failed in all but two of the islands. Several of the islands were also dealing with flash flood watch situations, as they were being hit with a major tropical depression.
KSSK and its inter-island affiliates (the designated EBS stations) were able to remain on the air, but it took them time to get accurate information flowing to local citizens. Eventually, they got their feet under them and began filling in the information gaps. But this took time.
The only source of solid information I did have was the EDIS message from the Pacific Tsunami Center, that I received on my PDA about thirty minutes after the initial event struck.
We were tourists without ready access to food and water, and less than a quarter tank of gas to get us across the island (a land mass about the size of Texas) to connect with our flight back to the mainland. Almost all stores, gas stations and restaurants were closed due to power failure. Nobody we were able to speak to had any clear idea of what was going on, or what roads were still open for travel (some had literally washed into the sea, were closed by major rock slides or large volcanic fissures that had opened up …) Most of what we were told was later conflicted by what we leard from others. Rumors were flying everwhere.
I realize that, in the immediate aftermath of a major event such as this, communication within the affected area is almost always disrupted. Most broadcast stations these days are allowed to run on auto-pilot (without even an on-duty 24/7 engineer or other staff) running pre recorded talk, infomercial or nationally simulcast talk shows … But this kind of delay and confusion could have resulted in the loss of life had this quake been a 7.0 instead of a 6.7. Even many of the long time island residents – and a few Hawaii natives I spoke to – were tweaked about this situation.
The Tsunami warning sirens might have provided at best a 20 minute warning to begin clearing the shoreline (with a 7.0 quake of local origin) … but clear reporting from local on-air talent could have begun getting the word out in advance of officials triggering the evac sirens – and could have provided information on evacuation routes.
It is clear that regulations for EBS stations have relaxed along with most others in the broadcast business … allowing the station to run under the crontrol of computers, pumping out pre-recorded content, on slow broadcast days is certainly cost effective. But KSSK had to pull their eng and on air talent off of the golf course and throw them on the air … a process that was time consuming and far from foolproof, when time was at a premium.
Perhaps the EBS stations in each market should have a different set of requirements to enable them to immediately switch to emergency related programming as the need arises? The resource they provide is simply too critical.
Last time I travel without my HT and a local repeater map. Could have saved us a great deal of time and anxiety identifying parameters of the situation, government disaster response, and identify resources we needed to get out of the region impacted by the disaster. Last time I will voluntarily put myself out of the loop and in the dark while on a trip.
EBS / EAS was designed to capitalize on the strenths and wide scale nature of the medium. Clearly, this situation highlights a major weakness in Hawaii’s system (and perhaps others in small and mid-sized markets. Food for thought.
///pdg