A new report claims that officials failed to send timely alerts over the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System in at least 15 events that were federally declared as major disasters since 2016.
According to ProPublica, officials in the most affected communities in at least 15 major disasters since 2016 either failed to send emergency alerts to the American public through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System or sent them after Americans were already impacted by dangerous flooding, mudslides, or wildfires.
ProPublica reported that reviews of the major disasters show that local authorities are often improperly prepared to issue Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Alerts. The outlet noted that the emergency alerts can be sent to television stations, radio stations, cellphones, and weather radios.
A previous report by CBS News in 2023 also noted that officials either did not send emergency alerts and evacuation orders or failed to send the alerts and evacuation orders in a timely manner in at least 12 natural disasters in the United States.
“If you think about it, very few emergency managers ever utilize the system,” Craig Fugate, a former Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, said at the time. “We’ve got to move this to where emergency managers are comfortable activating the system.”
In a statement obtained by ProPublica, Hamilton Bean, a professor at the University of Colorado Denver, warned that while people questioning delayed emergency alerts during major disasters “tend to treat it as though it’s a new problem,” it actually is “the same problem we’ve seen again and again since at least 2017.”
READ MORE: Major flooding forces evacuations in Alaska
Following the devastating Nuns-Tubbs wildfires, Sam Wallis, who was appointed as the Sonoma County community alert and warning manager, said, “What we learned through painful experience is if we wait too long, then even if the information is accurate, it may not be effective.”
“There’s a natural hesitancy, especially when you’re talking about maybe getting 100,000 people moving,” Wallis added. “There’s a reluctance to do that until you’re absolutely certain, and I guess the biggest lesson learned that I took away from this is: press the button. Press the button.”
In a statement obtained by ProPublica, Steven Kuhr, a former emergency management director for the state of New York, said, “There is a certain reluctance to send emergency messages out.” He added, “You don’t want to get it wrong.”
Of the 15 federally declared major disasters identified by ProPublica’s report, 11 reviews of the actions taken by local officials have been completed. According to ProPublica, nine of the 11 reviews indicate that a lack of planning and training played a role in the disasters.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Timothy Frudd
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://americanmilitarynews.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.