WRAL demos future of emergency alerts
On Thursday, WRAL became the first commercial television station in the nation to demonstrate a new technology called the Mobile Emergency Alert System.
Posted — UpdatedOnce it is fully developed and deployed, M-EAS will offer emergency responders and the media a new way to communicate with the public in a crisis. It could save lives.
When a natural disaster or terrorist attack occurs, millions of people turn first to their cellphone – to find out what is going on and to check on loved ones. All those calls, text messages and web searches have been shown to clog cellphone networks. That’s what happened after an earthquake rocked the eastern seaboard in 2011. People in Raleigh reported outages of 30 minutes or more.
“It’s a fragile system. It can get clogged. It can be overwhelmed,” said Sam Matheny, vice president, Policy & Innovation at Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc., the parent of WRAL-TV.
Matheny says M-EAS would be a better way to share important information during emergencies, like hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes.
Instead of using the Internet or cell phone networks, broadcasters can use a special digital TV signal to send alerts to your smart phone or other mobile device.
Broadcasters will be able to send text alerts, web pages full of emergency information and even videos.
The M-EAS technology still is being developed. It could be a couple of years before it's available to the public.
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