Miami Florida Emergency Advisory Radio System Story

April 2007

The City of Miami, Florida, Alerts Motorists in Many Languages

Miami Emergency Management has strategically located throughout the City a synchronized grouping of three ALERT AM emergency advisory radio stations along with one quick-deploy RESPONDER1 mobile unit. In 2006, Miami was ranked as "the highest disaster risk city in the USA" by an organization that annually measures risk to the US' 50 largest cities. Miami rests on an exposed peninsula vulnerable to major hurricanes and storm surge flooding. Below, Maria Morales of the City's Office of Communications explains how the multi-station Emergency Advisory Radio system is used to reach multi-lingual motorists across the City during emergencies and every day.

emergency scenarios ALERT AM will be used for	"ALERT AM will serve as a venue to directly inform our local residents of important information in the event of emergency situations such as natural disasters, or events affecting the community at large. Through this venue, we will advise the community of local government offices that will be open and/or closed, street closures, food/ice distribution centers, shelter locations and more. The messages will be recorded in English, Spanish and Creole."

typical broadcasts during non-emergency times	"On non-emergency days, the City of Miami [will] broadcast static information about City departments including: - Solid Waste - Planning and Zoning - 311 call center - Community Development - Public Works - City’s website - Code Enforcement The static information has been placed on a loop, broadcasting 24/7 with a combination of recorded messages in English, Spanish and Creole and approximately five minutes of news from the National Weather Service. The playlist is updated regularly."

Ways the community is made aware of the station	"[We] . . . Developed and distributed a press release to our English, Spanish and Creole media. Designed a logo for the radio station. Created a page and placed on our website. Created a slogan which has been placed on our Communications letterhead and is used every time a media advisory/press release is distributed." Created a public service announcement to run on cable TV - 1.6 MB wmv file."