Rapid and effective public alerts often play a crucial role in returning a missing child safely. Public safety alerts are less severe than imminent threat alerts.Īmerica's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response ( AMBER) Alerts are urgent bulletins issued in child-abduction cases. Public Safety Alerts contain information about a threat that may not be imminent or after an imminent threat has occurred. Imminent Threat Alerts include natural or human-made disasters, extreme weather, active shooters, and other threatening emergencies that are current or emerging.

National Alerts are a special class of alerts only sent during a national emergency. The messages are short and can provide immediate, life-saving information. WEAs are messages that warn the public of an impending natural or human-made disaster. WEAs can be sent to your mobile device when you may be in harm’s way, without the need to download an app or subscribe to a service. WEA is a partnership among FEMA, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and wireless providers to enhance public safety. Wireless providers primarily use cell broadcast technology for WEA message delivery. Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) are short emergency messages from authorized federal, state, local, tribal and territorial public alerting authorities that can be broadcast from cell towers to any WEA‐enabled mobile device in a locally targeted area.