An emergency population warning, or public warning system is a method where by local, regional, or national authorities can contact or notify members of the public to warn them of an impending emergency. These warnings may be necessary for a number of reasons, including:
- Weather emergencies such as cyclones, flooding, tornadoes, avalanches and severe weather.
- Geological disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis.
- Industrial disasters such as the release of toxic gas or contamination of river water.
- Radiological disasters such as a nuclear plant disaster.
- Medical emergencies such as an outbreak of a fast-moving infectious disease or pandemic.
- Warfare such as air raids or acts of terrorism.
- Other events, such as prison escapes, abducted children or emergency telephone number outages.
They are often disseminated during urgent events such as evacuations or where a severe threat to life is expected.
Common alerting methods include sirens, radio, television, local media, telephone, SMS and Cell Broadcast.[1]
- ^ Párraga Niebla, Cristina; Mulero Chaves, Javier; De Cola, Tomaso (2016-01-01), Câmara, Daniel; Nikaein, Navid (eds.), "8 - Design Aspects in Multi-channel Public Warning Systems", Wireless Public Safety Networks 2, Elsevier, pp. 227–261, ISBN 978-1-78548-052-2, retrieved 2024-12-12