
A warning alert is issued to the general public in face of an emergency. This article takes a look at the system of issuing alerts, civil emergency messages, that are used during emergencies.
The only predictable thing that remains in our lives is that it has become pretty darn unpredictable. There are so many things that can happen in a day that no one of us can predict any of those happenings (small or big) in our busy day-to-day routine. Not to sound gloomy or scary, but it is a matter of fact. A Civil Emergency Alert comes in handy in such moments for the administrators as well as the citizens. The ‘SAME’ code of Civil Emergency Message is CEM. SAME, Same Area Message Encoding, is a protocol that is used in the United States to encode a mass alert that is to be sent out in case of an emergency.
A Civil Emergency Message (CEM) is an alert from the authorities to the citizens of the concerned area of an impending threat to life and/or property along with the possible measures that they can take in order to safeguard themselves from it. The authorities that can send such a civil emergency warning can be a local or a national.
Such an alert is sent out after judging the severity of the situation at hand. This system comes in handy to warn the people and also provide them with protection. The system is used when sending out alerts about any climate and weather-related emergencies as well as for non-weather emergencies. This system is used in tandem with other systems so that the President of the United States can address the nation within 10 minutes of a national emergency.
The emergencies in which CEM is issued include,
- If a storm is building up
- In case of a terror attack
- If there is a possibility of floods
Given below are examples of such warnings.
BULLETIN – EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 554 AM CST MON NOV 12 2012 THE TULSA POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS REPORTED A BLOWN NATURAL GAS |
BULLETIN – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE OKLAHOMA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY NORMAN OKLAHOMA RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK 850 PM CDT SAT AUG 4 2012 THIS MESSAGE IS FROM THE CITY OF ALTUS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT BECAUSE OF A POWER FAILURE AT TOM STEED RESERVOIR…THE WATER |
BULLETIN – EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA 651 PM EDT WED AUG 26 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING FOR… UNTIL 710 PM EDT AT 649 PM EDT…SPOTTERS INDICATED A TORNADO 12 MILES THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR… IF YOU ARE IN THESE AREAS…SEEK SAFETY IN A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM |
This system can also be used to describe briefly the steps that are being taken to counter extremist threats. It can help the people to take any and every step they can to avoid a natural or man-made calamity.