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CMAS/WEA? Rudman Hopes for Better Coordination

He writes, 'We need to have not only overall coordination of information, but coordination for the release of that information.'


Relative to my column “Communicators, Not Communicating” and the topic of how well or poorly informed some emergency officials feel, I have this note today from Richard Rudman, a well-known veteran of the EAS and alerting wars. Thought I’d share, with his permission:

Hi, Paul:

I am currently attending the National Emergency Management Association forum being held in Anchorage, Alaska. I am talking with state emergency managers and others about two issues:

1. Treating emergency public information (EPI) as a manageable response resource 2. Getting a handle on coordinating EPI for all the old and new warning paths

The CMAS/WEA rollout was done without adequate training and education within both the emergency management community and the public.

My sincere hope is to get the smartphone industry to work closely with state and local emergency managers and state and local EAS committees to fix this.

We need to have not only overall coordination of information, but coordination for the release of that information. When people get a 90-character WEA message, they will want more information. Broadcasters and other long form information channels need to have, as Paul Harvey used to say, “The rest of the story.” Without that, both the public and the emergency management community are at the mercy of warning systems that do not coordinate, do not train and do not educate.

Regards,

Richard Rudman
Core Member, the Broadcast Warning Working Group (BWWG) and Vice Chair, California EAS SECC

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