The aftermath of Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita underscored our country�s need for significant improvement in
emergency response. That emergency personnel and agencies of all kinds on
the Gulf Coast could not communicate with one another until the fourth day after
Katrina hit the region � and not well after that � places the job of improving
reliable contact for first responders at the top of that
list.
Fortunately, Congress has
quickly recognized this need. New appropriations bills include funding to
rebuild and improve communications technology as well as policies to facilitate
coordination. Policy-oriented legislation is also in the works, with bills to
enhance emergency communications (such as S. 1725) or to create
a new all-hazards warning system (S.
1753).
Yet for the most part,
legislation dealing with first responder contact is focused on communications
via radio. But radio, an emergency response necessity, is not all-encompassing.
To complement it, data communication � or the exchange of information by
computers of all kinds � is being championed by emergency response and
technology leaders as a critical emergency information-sharing
technique.
�First responders rely on radios � it is what they use under most
day-to-day situations. So, in disasters where they may run into others who
can't share radio frequencies, or they lose connectivity due to disaster
conditions, this becomes a serious concern,� says Jeff Flading of Anteon, a
Virginia-based corporation that provides mission, operational and IT enterprise
support to the U.S. Government. �Whether or not radio communication is
available, passing information in standardized computer formats reduces the
amount of information that may be needed to be exchanged verbally by radio, and
therefore allow for more effective use of radio for those types of communication
that are interactive and dynamic in the emergency
response.�
For most of us these days,
using an electronic network to gather information or to send information to
another party has become second nature. Whether using the Internet or an
internal corporate network, data communications makes jobs quicker, easier, and
more fluid. One notable exception, however, is in the emergency
arena.
Alert and warning procedures
for data communications have become more complex since the baby boomer-era�s
nuclear attack warning sirens. Because there are currently many devices
consumers use for communications, agencies now maintain an array of disparate
alerting systems and equipment, causing emergency managers to try to operate
many different alert systems at the exact same time. The problem? Getting the
right message out on disparate systems. Sometimes small mistakes occur, like
messages with word discrepancies, but much worse are the times that warning
messages contradict one another, or don't get through because there is not a
human being on duty to retype the alert into a new format.
In order to continue using
this valuable data-exchange, but make it easier and less error-prone, the Common
Alerting Protocol (CAP) was created. Approved in 2004, it provides a simple and
standard format for sending out emergency alerts and warnings. CAP allows
a single message to be broadcast simultaneously over many different warning
systems.
CAP works for any data
network, including those that don�t usually communicate well with others.
Now, information can be shared among diverse agencies ranging from local police
to the National Guard to local hospitals. More than 50 vendors and state
and federal agencies have publicly announced support for CAP, and many are using
it today. The National Weather Service uses a CAP format version of its weather
warnings, and the U.S. Geological survey is incorporating it into warnings for
earthquakes, volcanoes and wild fires. The Bush Administration has
mandated that all agencies become CAP-compliant.
CAP was created by a
cooperative, open process of many emergency experts. It was then sponsored by
the Emergency Interoperability Consortium (EIC), and a broadly representative
group of emergency response leaders. It was approved as a formal international
standard by the international Organization for the Advancement of Structured
Information Standards (OASIS). In January of 2005, the EIC entered into a formal
Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Homeland Security Disaster
Management (DHS/DM) to work together to promote the development and
proliferation of open emergency management standards. The EIC now references the
emerging body of standards as the "Emergency Data Exchange Language" or
EDXL.
A new version, CAP 1.1, was
just approved by OASIS; it allows agencies to contain more warning
information. A new "EDXL distribution element,� now published for public
comment by OASIS, allows users to target more specifically the areas and
agencies to which emergency messages of any kind should go. A set of 14
�resource messages� has been developed by emergency leaders and EIC and
submitted to OASIS for turning into standards. These describe all forms of
requests and responses for people and things that emergency agencies need in
emergencies.
These standards allow data to be delivered over any type of network, and
any type of communications technology, from a sophisticated fiber network to a
hastily assembled Wi-Fi network.
In an attempt to get Congress to recognize officially, through
legislation, the value of data networks and open standards as vital components
of emergency communication, the EIC submitted testimony to the Senate Commerce
Committee on the data and standards issues and
is striving to make certain that policymakers recognize the importance of
interoperable emergency data communications. EIC has noted that grants to states
and localities need to allow the funds to be used for all forms of emergency
communications, including information technology and software, not just
"equipment" or hardware.
"Interoperability for data
communications is an issue whose time has come," said EIC Chairman
Matt Walton. "The EIC is pleased to have worked with its partners DHS and
OASIS to bring quickly bring forth 1.0 and the emerging family
of open standards under the framework of EDXL for emergency management and
Homeland Security. With focus and commitment, the day is not far off when
everyone involved in responding to disasters should be able to access the
information they require when and how they need it."
In a year of unparalleled
disasters, Americans owe it to themselves and their communities to demand
proven, up-to-date technologies to help responders do their jobs to the best of
their abilities. No one is beyond the reach of a crisis, but there is no reason
we need be beyond the reach of timely warning and prompt
relief.
Art
Brodsky is a freelance writer based in
the Washington, D.C. area and has worked as a consultant to the
EIC.
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