You know that annoying Bbeeeeeeeeeeep from the TV and radio that is supposed to warn you when something bad is happening??? well turns out its mostly annoying and not really effective.  In an age of blackberries and text messages the basic emergency broadcasting system up to 75 million Americans will not be reached by the system due to lack of accountability and the reluctance to embrace new ways of communication.  Thanks for NPR’s A Way With Words you can read the article below, or CLICK HERE for the pod cast. P.S The Podcast is much more detailed plus you don’t have to use your eyes to read….reading…ha.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has made little progress on an emergency-alert system despite a 2006 executive order that called for improvements in the system in light of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, congressional investigators said Wednesday.

The system — officially called the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System — also remains “largely unchanged” since a review completed in 2007 by the Government Accountability Office, the GAO’s director of physical infrastructure, Mark L. Goldstein, told lawmakers in prepared remarks.

Even though FEMA has some projects under way, Goldstein said the GAO “found the reliability of a national-level relay system — which would be critical if the president were to issue a national-level alert — remains questionable due to (1) a lack of redundancy, (2) gaps in coverage, (3) a lack of testing and training, and (4) limitations in how alerts are disseminated to the public.”

No Alerts

The original emergency-alert system was put in place during the Cold War. It works on a daisy-chain principle: The government would send out a message to stations in an emergency, and those stations would then transmit that message to stations across the region. If there are problems in the system, however, the message won’t be transmitted, Goldstein told NPR’s Robert Siegel.

Goldstein says the way things stand now, in the event of an emergency many parts of the country will be without information. The GAO has been “very concerned about it,” Goldstein says.

“If there is an emergency, and disaster strikes a major city where there’s part of the emergency-alert system in place, many other stations will never get the alert that’s supposed to be given to them,” he says. “During the day, only about 75 percent of the country would receive an alert; at night, when there’s less interference, it’s about 82 percent.”

FEMA Records

Goldstein says FEMA, which runs the program for the Department of Homeland Security, maintains inadequate records, leaving questions about how much has been spent on the program so far.

“In fact, one of the findings of the report is that nobody really can tell what pilot projects that FEMA put in place actually were completed, what kinds of lessons were learned and whether any information that came out of those pilots were used to improve the system,” he says.

Goldstein acknowledges that perhaps the system needs to be rethought because 90 percent of alerts are issued for weather emergencies. He says the president has never sent out a national alert. But, he says, not all stations follow through when there is an emergency.

“So the question does remain that for … all sorts of risk populations, people with disabilities … or people who don’t speak English that there is not necessarily sufficient capability in the system that everyone’s going to be warned if there needs to be such a warning,” Goldstein says.

Remembering the tragedy of September 11th, this survivalist asks you to pour a little out, bow your head or say a prayer for those who lost their lives to deadliest act of terror on American soil in our history.

Please do this in the spirit of healing and unity not in hate and fear.

Having lots of cool gear is fun, hiding on your roof pretending to snipe your neighbors dog is even more fun, but in the end if you don’t have basic life savings and disaster skills you may not get to use the gear or do anything else for that matter. One of the best resources for an urban survivalist is CERT – Community Emergency Response Team.

CERT teams are trained in safe, basic emergency skills valuable in any major disaster, such as fires, earthquakes, floods, mud slides and terrorism events. Based on a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) program, CERT teaches light search and rescue, basic fire suppression, emergency management and medical triage. The goal is to start evacuations and first aid as quickly as possible and serve other time-critical emergency functions to help save lives and property.

CERT Classes are free, and in my city they are administered by the fire department. Once you complete you can be called upon during a disaster to help your community recover. Most cities fall classes are about to start, so if you have any interest in helping not just your self but your community, shoot them an email to find out how you can participate.

Not only do you learn how to save lives, you also get a cool green vest, and its a great way to befriend local police and fire so if there ever is a disaster you will already have familiar faces on your team.

I will be documenting this seasons CERT classes week by week starting in October when classes actually start.  For a listing of cert classes by state or more general information click the link below.

MORE CERT INFORMATION

MORE CERT INFORMATION

MORE CERT INFORMATION

Since you have all been such good Americans this year, here is a picture of Heidi Montag in a bikini, because nothing says American Freedom like fake tits, conservative Christianity, reality TV and a wanna be pop star all rolled into one. No..seriously, what a great place…because of the boobs.

Like the rest of Southern California I will be exercising my freedoms by spending the weekend at the beach. Take that Great Britain. See you all on Monday. Have a great one!