10/09 Public Alerting: Options Assessment
Information for the CDEM Sector [IS 10/09]
New Zealand experiences a range of hazards. We can monitor, analyse, and expect many types of hazard events. Because of this, Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) and science communities have a joint responsibility for public warnings and alerts. This is part of a comprehensive approach to managing risks.
This document gives agencies responsible for warnings information to support them with:
- what to consider when planning or reviewing warning systems,
- evaluating the effectiveness of current public alerting mechanisms,
- considering the effectiveness and advantages of one public alerting mechanism against another, and
- deciding on the most appropriate mechanism(s) for their budget, hazards and demographics.
The document is based on studies from GNS Science and the New Zealand Centre for Advanced Engineering (CAENZ). The National Emergency Management Agency commissioned it under its Tsunami Risk Management Programme.
Public Alerting: Options Assessment [IS10/09] (.pdf 3mb)
Public alerting options: decision support tool
A decision support tool is available to help evaluate different public alerting mechanisms. The tool looks at:
- cost vs. benefit,
- how effective a mechanism is, and
- demographic, geographic and hazard characteristics of an area.
The tool can separately evaluate high and low density population areas. This is because the cost per capita changes with density for some mechanisms. The input is in dollars and staff effort (i.e. ‘cost’) and effectiveness (i.e. ‘benefit’). These can be adjusted for local circumstances.
The user guide for this tool is available in the Information Series document.
Download the decision support tool (xls 300kB)
Note: When opening this file, select 'enable macros' when prompted.
Public alerting seminars
Several regional seminars were held during April/May 2009. These introduced public alerting studies from GNS Science and CAENZ.