When there is a disaster approaching, the last thing you want is to be in the dark. Good thing we have smartphones pretty much glued to our palms with all the information we could ever want at a tap but when facing an emergency situation there are more options than relying on the right search terms. Actually, you don’t even need to do anything because there are systems in place to alert us during emergency situations like natural disasters.
Emergency alerts are alerts the government, state or local authorities send out and there are three different types to be aware of.
Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)
WEA’s look like text messages but come in twice and have a sound that is typically different from your normal text alert sound. Some providers call these Government Alerts or Emergency Alert Messages. They cover weather, health warnings (pandemics), safety issues, and sometimes Amber alerts. There is no subscription or registration, and your data plan or network congestion will not affect them. You simply enable them in your phone settings and you’ll start receiving alerts when applicable.
Emergency Alert System (EAS)
This is the national public warning system that allows the president to address the nation within 10 minutes during a national emergency. These alerts can be weather specific, health and safety warning, Amber alerts, or local safety-threat information. According to Ready.gov, these alerts are sent through broadcasters, satellite digital audio services, direct broadcast satellite providers, cable television systems and wireless cable systems.
NOAA Weather Radio (NWR)
NWR is the network of radio stations that broadcast continuous weather information from the nearest National Weather Service. NWR has all NOAA Weather Radio stations broadcast on one of seven frequencies in the VHF Public Service band: 162.400, 162.425,162.450,162.475, 162.500, 162.525 and 162.550. You fo need a weather radio to catch their updates. If you don’t already own one, Midland and Midland and Vondior have some good battery-powered options, but a hand crank one is recommended, like this one from FosPower, in case of loss of power.
If you want more specific information about alerts in your area, you can google your city+state+alerts. You might want to know if and when the alerts in your area are tested so you aren’t nervous when you hear a siren go off. For instance, in most of Texas the tornado sirens are tested the first Wednesday of the month and the sirens only go off for about 60 seconds. But that’s only when there’s no imminent danger so there’s nothing to worry about.
