Hearing of the Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee - Opening Statement of Rep. Bennie Thompson, Hearing on Ensuring Effective and Reliable Alerts and Warnings

Hearing

When Hurricane Katrina struck the gulf coast in 2005, we saw firsthand how the lack
of a modern national emergency alert capability complicated the immediate response
and recovery in the gulf states.

Within a year of the storm, President Bush directed FEMA to accelerate the integration
of modernize the aging Emergency Alerts System and leverage new technologies into
its alerts and warnings platform, the Integrated Public Alerts and Warnings System
(IPAWS).

In the years since, IPAWS has evolved, pushing out alerts and warnings via
televisions, radios, and cell phones. IPAWS is exploring opportunities to integrate new
technologies, including networked devices.

The program has increased the number of approved alert originators to ensure that
State and local governments have the ability to properly issue warnings in their areas.

Toward that end: Emergency alerts and warnings save lives, but only if the public
responds to them.

That means the alerts must be accessible to those with access and functional needs,
available to those in urban and rural areas alike, and accurate so the public will heed
the instruction.

In the past, I have raised concerns about whether alerts and warnings are accessible
to people with hearing or vision impairments, as well as those who do not speak
English.

I understand that lessons learned from previous tests of the Emergency Alert System
have informed updates to the alerting system to make messages clearer for those with
limited vision.

I also understand that the IPAWS platform is currently capable of pushing out alerts
and warnings in Spanish, and I am interested in learning whether that capability isbeing utilized and what efforts FEMA is undertaking to broaden the accessibility for
those who cannot read or speak English or Spanish.

Moreover, to ensure that emergency alerts and warnings are available to those who
live beyond the reach of a cell tower, FEMA must continue to pursue novel
approaches to alerts and warnings to reach those who are not watching TV or
listening to the radio.

Finally, alerts and warnings must be accurate.

Last month's disturbing false alert about an incoming missile in Hawaii revealed gaps
related to training, policy, and procedure for issuing alerts and warnings.

I am not raising this issue to chase a headline or to shame the Federal or State
agencies involved.

Rather, I raise this issue because I am concerned that false alerts like the one issued
last month could result in the public taking alerts and warnings less seriously, delaying
response, or ignoring them all together.

Every minute matters during a disaster, and we cannot afford to have the public
wasting time questioning whether an alert is real before taking action.

I look forward to learning how FEMA is updating its training, policies, and best
practices to prevent additional false alerts in the future.

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