Communications Problems Remain Before Next Hurricane Season, FCC Panel Told

COMMUNICATIONS PROBLEMS REMAIN BEFORE NEXT HURRICANE SEASON, FCC PANEL TOLD
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
Federal emergency officials told regulators Tuesday they were working hard to improve flawed communications systems that hindered the Katrina disaster response, but they acknowledged many problems remain. Thomas Wetherald, deputy operations director for the National Communications System, which oversees emergency telecommunications preparedness, said his group has beefed up training, set up task forces to identify problems and improved the communications infrastructure. "There has to be better coordination between state and local groups,'' Wetherald told members of an independent panel gathering information to be presented to the Federal Communications Commission in June. "The feds have to understand how the states work. This is not largely a technology problem; this is largely a procedural, human problem,'' he said. "I can tell you we are working on it.'' At the hearing Tuesday, panel members watched a demonstration of the Digital Emergency Alert System, a pilot project by the Association of Public Television Stations with the Homeland Security Department. The system seeks to improve the public alert system by datacasting text, voice and video alerts over public television stations to cell phones, computers, pagers and other devices, which may be incorporated for future disasters.
http://www.wlox.com/global/story.asp?s=4785820

* John Lawson Testifies at FCC Hearing
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* For more info on the FCC panel, see http://www.fcc.gov/eb/hkip/