Description:
The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, or IPAWS, of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the USA is a nationwide federal alerting system that sends out authenticated emergency and life-saving information to the public. Alert and warning messages are disseminated through various channels: via mobile phones using Wireless Emergency Alerts, via radio and television through an Emergency Alert System, and via the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's weather radio.
The alarm is raised in four steps:
1. A public alarm can be triggered by federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local officials. This makes them the alerting authorities.
2. In the second step, the sender and the format of the alert are validated. For this purpose, the alerting authority sends a common alerting protocol alert to the IPAWAS-Open Platform for emergency networks.
3. After a positive validation, the alert is transmitted to the public. This is done through a private-sector partner system. The alert is sent via the emergency alert system, wireless emergency alert, NOAA weather radio, and internet-enabled devices. Future technologies can be easily integrated into the system.
4. In the last step, the warning reaches the public.