Moving Towards Accessible Wireless Emergency Alerts: Sending and Receiving

In the United States, cell phones play an important role in the rapid dissemination of public alerts and warnings. In 2012, FEMA began the nationwide rollout of the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) platform as part of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). WEAs enable emergency response personnel to send messages to wireless subscribers within range (at the county level) of an active incident. WEA messages do not require a subscription for receipt and are available for use by authorized IPAWS alerting authorities

Scientific eventuality or science fiction: The future of people with different abilities

Consider this, we are living in a future [in-part] imagined over 30 years ago- in science fiction film and books. We may envision that 30 years from now we could live in a future with technology developed from the concepts we see in science fiction today. In this paper, the concepts of disability are challenged in the future based on the technologies imagined in the science fiction genre of the present and past. Focused on the sub-genre, Cyberpunk, current mainstream, as well as new emerging technologies inspired by science fiction are reviewed. Future disability is reimagined dependent on continued support and acceptance of the emerging technology. If our past is any indication, our future may lie in the conceptual and slightly implausible figments of our science fiction-based imaginations. However, the cultural shift will significantly impact our laws, regulations, and policies, as well as introduce new societal concerns

Just Another Communications Tool

Several communications tools are used by emergency management agencies (EMAs) to disseminate emergency alerts and warnings, including sirens, television, radio and telephones. In recent years, some EMAs have begun to use social media for a variety of emergencies to relay important information to the public and to engage the citizenry in useful discussions on preparedness and recovery. In a 2014 survey of 139 FEMA approved alert authorities, nearly 90% of respondents indicated that they use social media to disseminate public alerts. However, there are still late adopters. In addition, social media use is not universal or uniform across all EMAs. The findings presented in this article are based on interviews of representatives from 13 emergency management agencies (at the state and local level) in different locations across the United States

Gaps in Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) Effectiveness

Beginning in October 2013 the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies1 surveyed the public (with emphasis on people with disabilities) to assess the awareness and understanding of Wireless Emergency Alerts. The survey ended in February of 2014. A total of 1,818 people responded to the English version of the survey and 12 responded to the Spanish version of the survey, for a total of 1,830 respondents. Nearly 18% of the respondents indicated that they live with one or more of the following difficulties: seeing; hearing; concentrating; using their arms; using their hands or fingers; or walking, climbing stairs, and standing. Additionally, 11% of respondents indicated that they were a caregiver to an individual with a disability. The findings assisted the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) by highlighting potential gaps in WEA effectiveness for people with disabilities.

Community Development Block Grant Disbursements After Disasters : Assessing Social Vulnerability

This research observed the differences among various State distributions of CDBG funds for recovery efforts following the 2005 and 2008 hurricane seasons. The distribution of CDBG funds was also used to assess if any disparities exist among certain socially vulnerable populations. Testing the socio-political ecology theory, this research used multiple regression analysis to estimate the affects of the social vulnerability on CDBG disbursement after disaster. The type of activities funding with the CDBG disbursements were separated into five groups; administration, economic development, housing, infrastructure, and public facilities. The results show that certain socially vulnerable factors were highly correlated with the amount of funding from the CDBG program at the county level. The findings suggest that the socio-political ecology theory may not be the sole theory accountable for the variation in CDBG funds during each hurricane season.Political Scienc

Mobile Apps Catalog

The Mobile Apps Catalog is a collection of emergency management and assistive mobile applications intended to assist first responders, emergency managers, and the public, specifically people with disabilities or others with access and function needs. Highlighted in this catalog are readily available preparedness and response apps that can be accessed by wireless devices, as well as assistive resources to advance the usability of wireless devices for consumers with disabilities. The apps are also helpful for the whole community. “Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s “Whole Community” approach to emergency management recognizes that individuals, families and communities are assets and keys to success (Fugate 2011).

Dissemination of WEA: Survey of Alert Authorities

In 2013, researchers from the Center for Advanced Communication Policy (CACP) at Georgia Institute of Technology were tasked by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) program office to research the inclusiveness of people with disabilities and those with language differences with regards to emergency alerts, namely Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs). Several research methods were employed to examine the accessibility of emergency alerts and impacts to all stakeholders. This brief summarizes the survey results on how FEMA approved alert authorities used IPAWS to send WEAs to the public. The survey was sent to all 425 alert authorities in 2014. The questions asked were intended to assist the CACP in identifying current best practices that can be used as benchmarks for emergency managers and other potential alerting authorities regarding ways to assist the identified population. 139 alerting authorities (33%) responded to this survey

Planning for Accessible Emergency Communications: Mobile Technology and Social Media

The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centre for Wireless Technologies (Wireless RERC) Wireless Emergency Communications (WEC) project team developed prototype software for wireless devices based on regulatory requirements and conducted a series of field tests to explore the effectiveness of receiving mobile emergency alerts. Incorporated into the process were surveys that assessed how people with disabilities and emergency management used various forms of media to send and receive emergency communications. Presented are the WEC R&D findings to enhance accessibility of the Emergency Alert System (EAS), Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS); and explore access to popular mainstream communication modes (mobile social media)

The future of accessibility in disaster conditions: How wireless technologies will transform the life cycle of emergency management

By describing a transformed life cycle of emergency management, this paper re-envisions how emergency managers may prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate against disaster impacts in the future. Additionally, this paper also reveals how the broader social, political, economic, and cultural levels must change to foment a culture of safety with and for people with disabilities. The authors use the framework to identify how future wireless technologies can empower people with disabilities with regards to individual (or household) emergency preparedness and in coping with the drastic life changes following a disaster

Optimizing Accessibility of Wireless Emergency Alerts: 2015 Survey Findings

The Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system is a free, opt-out, national emergency alerting service that was deployed in 2012 as one component of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning Systems (IPAWS). Since 2012 over 10,000 WEA messages have been transmitted to mobile phones in the U.S. In 2015, a national online survey on WEAs (2015 WEA Survey) was conducted to understand the effectiveness of WEA messages for people with disabilities. The survey collected data on availability, awareness and accessibility of WEA messages, as well as actions taken by the recipient upon receipt. The survey also takes into consideration the type of mobile device used by the respondents. Project researchers hypothesized that greater awareness and exposure to WEA alerts would increase trust and appropriateness of individual responses to alerts. The analysis of the survey data supports the hypothesis. The 2015 WEA national online survey results provided policy and practice insights to improve the intended impact of WEA messages for people with disabilities