Emergency population warning
These warnings may be necessary for a number of reasons, including: 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.
(IEWP 2007) The United Nations Development Programme uses the Send Word Now Emergency Notification System to alert its worldwide staff when an urgent situation arises.
It can be broadcast on radio, television, automated telephone calls and in some places by public address systems in the event of bushfire, flood, cyclone, tsunami, earthquake or terrorist attack.
On June 11, 2009, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved a proposal by Pelmorex, owners of The Weather Network and MétéoMédia, to receive must-carry status for the channels, in exchange for developing a "national aggregator and distributor" of localized emergency alert messages compliant with the Common Alerting Protocol.
The EPWS was put into place after a major tornado swept through the city of Edmonton in 1987, killing 27 and causing millions of dollars in damage.
CKUA developed and maintained the EPWS until January 2010, when it lost a bid to modernize the system to an outside vendor (the contract had provided 15% of the station's overall budget).
The system is inherited from the air-raid siren network (défense passive) developed before World War II.
In some cases, the warning signal may be played by a mobile system installed on the fire department's vehicles.
This system is designed to facilitate the efficient dissemination of critical alerts and safety information to citizens throughout the country.
FR-Alert serves as a platform for delivering timely and accurate notifications related to various potential risks, including natural disasters and industrial incidents.
Warnings are broadcast by radio and television stations, and compatible equipment can automatically turn on when receiving a message.
It enables the leader of the country to address the people simultaneously on all TV channels and radio stations, interrupting normal programming.
The SAE (Spanish: Sistema de Alerta de Emergencia; English: Emergency Alert System) was created as a response to the 2010 Chilean Earthquake after the failure by the national authorities to provide safety precautions and speedy information during the aftermath of the disaster.
Since its inception in 2012 and through its official implementation in 2017 onwards, it has been used to provide alerts and information regarding natural disasters such as floods, wildfires, tsunami and earthquake warnings.
On 24 March 2020, the day after the UK went into a national lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government collaborated with the country's four main mobile networks, O2, EE, Vodafone and Three, to send a text message alert regarding the new restrictions to all registered mobile phone numbers across the UK.
People living near certain nuclear facilities such as the Hanford Site in Washington have special radios in their home that are set to broadcast a warning signal in the event of a radiological emergency.
Many U.S. institutions of higher education now use multiple warning technologies on their campuses, including outdoor and indoor sirens, public address systems, email and cell phone text messaging, and digital displays.
