Emergency Alerts Warnings & Notifications
Staying Informed
The City of Cupertino’s (City) Alert, Warning, and Notification Program (AWN) provides critical alert and warning to the public while supporting information sharing among City departments and partner agencies before, during, and after an emergency. Effective dissemination of information, including alerts and warnings, are critical emergency management tools to help prevent hazards from becoming disasters.
The City’s Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) is used to prepare for, respond to, and recover from events impacting the City. The AWN Program serves as a supplemental tool designed to help the City’s departments effectively coordinate information sharing and provide alert and warning to the public for the entire cycle of an incident. The AWN Program was developed following the principles of the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines, California Public Alert and Warning System Plan, and the Santa Clara County Office of Emergency Management AlertSCC program.
The AWN Program provides the framework for alert, warning, and notifications before, during, and after any emergency or situation. The framework documents the recommended criteria for issuing public alerts and warnings, types of alerts and warnings, governance, training, and technical requirements for activating alerts. This document provides best practices for crafting effective alert and warning messages, choosing appropriate alerting technology, and providing public education to ensure the people understand how to obtain, use, and respond to information from the City.
In a community-wide emergency, alerts, warnings, and notifications play a critical role in keeping people out of harm’s way and providing info on the status and resolution of the situation. To reach as many people as possible with crucial information, the City’s emergency alert, warning, and notification plan includes several information methods: the AlertSCC System, Cupertino.org, the City Channel, Radio Cupertino, and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
AlertSCC
Of all of the emergency communications methods, this is the most important. In the event of a disaster, the City will notify you directly via telephone, email, SMS and/or fax. Make sure you are registered to receive alerts by going to the AlertSCC Opt-In/Out Portal Page.
AlertSCC is the County’s official emergency alert and notification system. Agencies and jurisdictions within the County can send emergency alerts to mobile devices, landlines, emails, or SMS texts. AlertSCC is an opt-in system requiring residents, businesses, employees, and visitors to navigate to www.alertscc.org and create a profile. The City of utilizes two instances of AlertSCC:
- Public Alert and Warning
- City of Cupertino Internal Notifications (and partner agencies)
Capabilities of AlertSCC include the following:
- Geotargeted alerting
- Email alerts
- Text alerts
- Phone alerts
- Social media integration
- Integrated public alert and warning system integration
For information in Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog, or Vietnamese click FINAL 2024 AlertSCC Postcard (All)(PDF, 8MB)
REACH Initiative
What is REACH?
REACH (Raising Emergency Awareness of Community Hazards) is a part of the City Inclement Weather protocol. When weather represents at least a “moderate” risk (as designated by the National Weather Service), volunteers are sent a copy of the situation report along with risks, impacts, and preparedness information, with subject line "ACTION REQUESTED". Volunteers are encouraged to share this information with their community, and confirm that they have done so. If weather is designated a major or extreme risk, volunteers are expected to disseminate the REACH messaging (subject line "ACTION REQUIRED") and report message spread through an online form.
Read more about the impact of this program and register to participate as a volunteer with the Block Leader Program!
Cupertino.org
In the event of an emergency, look for pertinent info on the Current Emergency Event page, as well as any press releases on the News & Info page.
Cupertino Radio and TV
In the event of a disaster, information will be broadcast as soon as possible on Radio Cupertino 1670 AM and on the City Channel (Channel 26 on Comcast Cable or Channel 99 on AT&T). Note that Radio Cupertino has a limited range, especially at night.
Integrated Public Alert and Warning System
The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) is an internet-based capability, run by FEMA, which federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities can use to issue critical public alerts and warnings. The three core components of IPAWS are EAS, WEA, and the NOAA Weather Radio. IPAWS also includes capabilities for unique alert systems, which includes dissemination of alerts through third-party applications, and future system development.
EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM (EAS)
The federal EAS is used by alerting authorities to send warnings via (broadcast, cable, satellite, and wireline communications pathways). EAS can be used by local authorities in accordance with a pre-determined local EAS plan to alert their local jurisdictions of an imminent threat. Additionally, EAS enables the President to interrupt all broadcasts in one or more counties with an emergency announcement. Participation in local use of EAS is voluntary on the part of broadcasters except the Local Primary LP-1 and LP-2 stations. EAS messages are delivered to all listeners or viewers of stations serving a targeted county. Satellite and cable TV carriers also participate in EAS, but their capacity to geographically target dissemination is more limited. EAS can distribute warning messages over large areas very quickly but cannot reach people who are not watching or listening to broadcast media, particularly people who are asleep.
WIRELESS EMERGENCY ALERT (WEA)
WEA are emergency messages sent by authorized government alerting authorities through the major mobile carriers. WEA alerts are targeted to a defined geographical area and are presented differently than a typical text alert in order to differentiate it from regular notifications. They offer a unique alert tone and vibration accompanied by a brief push notification displayed uniquely on the end user’s mobile device. WEA is an opt-out system. Mobile device users will receive the WEA notification unless they choose to deactivate the service on their mobile device.
This capability allows for both the residents of a given jurisdiction, and persons visiting the jurisdiction the ability to be notified.
NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA) WEATHER RADIO
Using technology similar to old-fashioned portable radio pagers, desktop radio receivers can be activated when they receive particular tone or data signals. The alerting signal is typically followed by audio information. The nationwide National Weather Radio network operated by the NOAA is the best known and most widely deployed example of this technology. Tone-alert radios can provide both alerting and warning detail quickly over a wide area but require an investment in the receiving equipment that many members of the public decline to make. Some NOAA Radios have Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) capability allowing public or jurisdictions to limit warnings only in an area of concern.