On Thursday, WRAL became the first commercial television
station in the nation to demonstrate a new technology called the Mobile
Emergency Alert System.
According to a story at wral.com, once 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.
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