NACOA reported its findings to the Administrator of NOAA in a 

 special report made public in November 1972.* NACOA concluded that, 

 "While the technical and administrative resources of NOAA could be 

 improved in certain respects, and work must be done in the area of public 

 response, primary effort must be focused on the warning delivery system." ** 

 We wish to discuss further in this report the matter of delivery of warnings 

 and forecasts. 



Improving Delivery and Public Response 



An effective warning delivery system must be capable of detecting 

 an impending disaster, determining its scope, deciding on the type of 

 warning to be issued, and disseminating the warning. On its part, the 

 community thus warned must be prepared to take appropriate action. All 

 of these components must function properly and quickly if lives and 

 property are to be saved. The response time from detection to public 

 action must be made short. While the Weather Service does not have 

 the responsibility for public response, it shares responsibility with other 

 agencies for final delivery to the public, and it does have the responsibility 

 of assessing how successful to the whole is its part of the effort. 



The National Weather Service (NWS) uses a number of arrangements 

 for transmitting forecasts and warnings to the public. Many of the methods 

 currently used are indirect. The mass media (radio, television, and news- 

 papers) relay what is furnished them by the NWS, and, in some areas the 

 public is reached through State and community action agencies. In other 

 locations, the NWS communicates directly with the public both by tele- 

 phone and through the use of continuous broadcasts over special VHF- 

 FM radio transmitters. More extensive use of cable television is an emerg- 

 ing possibility for increasing direct contact with the public. None of these 

 methods is entirely satisfactory alone, although collectively they could 

 make up an effective system. Unfortunately, there are few places where the 

 proper mix is both available and utilized. NACOA strongly urges NOAA 

 to undertake the design and evaluation of pilot projects to determine 

 and rank the various alternative systems for this purpose. 



In addition to recommending that NOAA undertake the responsibility 

 for making certain that warning messages are not only sent but are also 

 delivered to someone who can take action, NACOA recommends that 

 NOAA, in conjunction with appropriate action agencies, develop a moni- 



* "The Agnes Floods, a Post-Audit of the Eflfectiveness of the Storm and Flood 

 Warning System of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A Re- 

 port for the Administrator of NOAA." NACOA, GPO, Washington, D.C., Nov. 

 22, 1972. 

 ** Op. cit. p. 2. 



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