Emergency Broadcast: Difference between revisions

The Emergency Broadcast is a means of public warning and public annoyance alike. Hearing an '''Emergency Broadcast''' warning of actual danger may lead to [[Oh Crap]], [[Mass "Oh Crap"]], the need for [[Bring My Brown Pants|one's brown pants to be brought]] - in that way it may be the ultimate [[Brown Note]]. On the other hand, a test or a warning of something that doesn't affect you (e.g. a missing child warning, a flood when you're on high ground, a tsunami when you're 100 miles inland) may be a [[Berserk Button]] and lead to frustration with [[Crying Wolf]]. Another frequent frustration is when an actual alert has such horrible sound quality you can't understand what's being said. In manythe countries,worst disasters? Broadcasters may have already broken away from their routine entertainment or news programming with a [[AtomicWe HateInterrupt This Program]] wasor the[[This primaryJust reasonIn]], forso the systemthere's creation,no andpoint itactivating eventuallyan (andautomated thankfully)Emergency endedBroadcast upsystem neverto beinginterrupt usedlive forcoverage thatof purpose and being usedthe forsame manybreaking othersnews.

'''[[Canada]]:''' [https://www.alertready.ca/ Alert Ready] is a national alert system with the capability to override radio broadcasts and use "Wireless Public Alerting" to push alert messages to 4G LTE cellphones. Unlike the similar system in the USA, Canadians cannot opt out of WPA messages (butwhich has lead to all-too-common news reports of the 9-1-1 system being flooded with complaints from people who did not turn off their phones before going to bed the night an Amber Alert was sent). However, WPA messages are not billable, either). Alerts are sent in specific geographic areas for wildfires, natural disasters, Amber Alerts, terrorist threats, and other emergencies. Environment Canada's "Weatheradio Canada" (which disseminated weather warnings, alerts, and tests on VHF radio) has been incorporated into Alert Ready.

Only one province, Alberta, has a provincial emergency warning system. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yieKSxczXXY The Alberta Emergency Public Warning System] was planned after an F5 tornado tore through Edmonton, but was only picked up by all broadcasters after a F3 tornado destroyed a campground at Pine Lake. The EPWS serves to advise the public of imminent threats such as severe summer weather (tornadoes, thunderstorms, and floods) and civil emergencies, and also broadcasts AMBERAmber Alerts. It generally is not used to disseminate less emergent weather alerts such as snowfall or blizzard warnings, as those are considered relatively common events during most of the winter (and spring, and...).