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Step 1: Emergency Operations Center or other government agency holds a news conference or publishes a text bulletin with critical information.
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Inexpensive equipment is installed in emergency operations centers, city halls, and other governmental agencies to feed video of news conferences and critical text bulletins to the AEN Central Database via the internet. |
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Step 2: Emergency bulletins and streaming video of news briefings are fed into AEN Central Database.
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Text bulletins are entered into the database, and video is streamed via the internet. A satellite internet connection is included in the installation so the feeds can continue when phone lines, mobile phones, and cable are knocked out. |
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Step 3: The AEN Central Database will be accessed via www.emergency.info.
The home page will show the location of every emergency event in the nation as they happen. Each city, county, or other governmental agency will have its own page where emergency text bulletins are found and video of news briefings is viewed.
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Step 4: As emergency bulletins are issued by local, state, or federal emergency centers or the National Weather Service the AEN home page will update indicating where the event has happened and the nature of it.
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A colored flag appears indicating the location and the nature of the emergency, and whether it is issued by an emergency operations center or the National Weather Service. The map can be panned and zoomed to concentrate on the area of interest. |
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As emergency bulletins come in, their issuing location and the bulletin’s nature are added to the list. |
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Users enter a zip code to see all bulletins or video feeds that pertain to that area. |
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Each state with any active emergency bulletin is listed on the left. Clicking on the state will take you to a list of counties where bulletins are active.
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Step 5: Each governmental entity has its own emergency page laid out in consultation with the emergency manager.
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Live or previously recorded video feeds are viewed in the main window. |
Live or previously recorded videos are selected for viewing. When a new feed is sent from the EOC, it is archived and added to the list of viewable feeds.
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Bulletins issued by the emergency center are time-stamped and available for viewing here. |
| Emergency bulletins issued by the National Weather Service are time-stamped and available for viewing here. |
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Step 6: The most important current video or text information in the AEN Central Database is combined into AEN-TV and distributed via satellite, cable, and other outlets.
| Important text information is presented here. At times the information adds to the content in the video window, other times it is information about a different event. |
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News briefings or other content from government emergency centers appear in the video window. Feeds are taken live when possible, or prioritized when necessary. |
| Information covering the same events covered in the video window is crawled across the bottom of the screen for the hearing impaired. |
The schedule of events is posted and updated as necessary. |
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Step 7: AEN-TV is distributed to satellite and cable companies. Satellite distribution allows emergency messages to reach disaster victims and surviving media when traditional communications systems have failed.
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Messages from governmental entities big and small can reach anybody with power – local radio and TV stations, members of the public, first responders, shelters, etc. – via satellite providers. Evacuees and media outlets are able to monitor the official news from the disaster zone from wherever they may be. |
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Step 8: Short emergency messages are relayed from the AEN Central Database through the AlertFM system. The messages can be directed to an entire county, a specific zip code, or an individual.
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| AlertFM utilizes a small part of local FM stations’ signals called subcarriers to send messages to an entire community or specific neighborhoods or individuals. The messages are received from overlapping FM stations instantly, unlike other systems that use the cellular networks. |
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