Summary

This article describes the results of a project to develop a multi-channel Public Emergency Warning System. The project was carried out by Murdoch University and was funded by Emergency Management Australia, with in-kind contributions from the ABC, FESA, and the Interactive Television Research Institute of Murdoch University.

The project had the following objectives:

· To understand how new media can be used to extend the reach of public information systems and improve community response to emergencies (understanding communities).

· To establish the foundation of an innovative new service with the potential to save lives and property, nationally and globally (emergency management capability).

· To assert the interests of emergency management organizations in the evolution of new national media communications infrastructure (information management and technology).

The result of the project is a proof-of-concept public emergency message system supporting:

• Voice, fax, email, SMS, webpage message channels
• List-based delivery
• Location-based delivery
• Standards-based interoperability

The system was tested successfully in two trials based on real events with the following findings:

• The system design was validated
• The system was believed by participants to be useful
• The XML Common Alerting Protocol used was validated