BATON ROUGE, La. – The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness is pleased to announce the development and establishment of an electronic emergency alert system called the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under Presidential Executive order 13407 signed June 23, 2006, began the development of a system to improve public alerting and warning. FEMA is sponsoring the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Pilot Program which includes the MyStateUSA portal to fill a part in meeting the overall objectives under the Presidential order. The pilot program will run from Apr. 1, through Dec. 31, 2007.

MyStateUSA will provide a web portal enabling all levels of government to share information during any crisis.  Emergency management officials can create emergency communication groups that can be used to transmit emergency information to first responders in the field.  For example, emergency service providers can be placed in groups so they can be alerted and updated instantly with general information about the emergency or specific information about their role in the response.

MyStateUSA can be used to warn first responders and citizens of possible tornados, hurricane evacuations, hazardous material spills and terrorist attacks.  The system is being used now to communicate internally among parish departments and other first responders.  It will be expanded next month to include private citizens. Depending on the nature of the emergency, emergency messages can be sent to registered users, either parish-wide or to those in a specific threat area.

The system can be used to communicate with evacuated citizens after a hurricane or other crisis to provide information about the condition of the parish and when they can return.

Jefferson parish will be the first parish to implement the program.  Training sessions are being planned for other parishes to begin the implementation in the parish.  GOHSEP is currentlyworking closely with MyStateUSA and the two agencies are finalizing the project plan for the roll out for the system statewide. 

Later this year, FEMA and MyStateUSA will begin work on a system that will allow emergency officials to call home phones with emergency messages, such as the threat of a tornado or other impending emergency situations.