On Sat, 6 Oct 2018, valdis.kletni...@vt.edu wrote:
Since there isn't infinite money to build a system that will reach *everybody*,
the only reasonable approach is to cobble together a set of overlapping systems
on existing technology that covers the most people while staying inside the
funding restrictions.
There is also the circular logic of budget cutting.
1. We don't need to fund outdoor sirens, becuase we have E.A.S. on
radio/TV/cable.
2. We don't need E.A.S. because we have NOAA weather radio.
3. We don't need NWR because we have Wireless Emergencey Alerts.
4. We don't need WEA, because we have outdoor sirens.
5. Goto 1
There is no business case for Amazon, Apple or Google to include emergency
alerts as part of their smart speakers.
The majority of cities did not repair/replace their outdoor civil defense
sirens when they reached their 40-year lifespan in the 1990s. Tornado
Alley likely still has the most working outdoor sirens, but even in that
part of the country a majority of cities saved money by not maintaining
them. An average outdoor siren costs $25,000 installation, $1,000/year
maintenance and only covers 1/2-mile radius -- outdoors. In most places,
an outdoor siren won't wake you up indoors.
This year's federal budget proposed cutting 20% of NOAA weather readio
transmitters to save money. Fewer than 5% of households buy weather
radios.
Although FCC and FEMA help standardize national disaster response systems,
such as 9-1-1, E.A.S. and W.E.A, essentially 100% use of those systems is
for local disasters and emergencies. It makes sense for some national
consistency for things like stop signs and emergency alerts and 9-1-1.
People travel and work in other cities, and aren't ready for lots of local
variations during emergencies.
Since 2011, EAS and WEA has been used for 33,000 local weather alerts and
local emergencies and only 4 national tests (4 for EAS and 1 for WEA).
FEMA only has about 15 people to maintain its national warning system
24/7/365.
Giving the lack of disaster funding, you are more likely NOT to get any
warnings during a disaster than ever seeing any black helicopters flying
over your house.
Alexa won't say a word.
