Jackson Free Press

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — A study by two University of Southern Mississippi researchers on the effectiveness of emergency alerts has revealed some surprising results.

David Cochran and Bandana Kar, associate professors in the Department of Geography and Geology, recently concluded work with the Department of Homeland Security on the impact of messages that appear on smartphones during bad weather.

The two researchers found while people appreciate the Wireless Emergency Alerts, they need more information than the messages can currently provide. In addition, when it comes to responding to emergency information, residents are more likely to follow what their family and friends are doing than what the alerts say.

"There are so many warning technologies used during tornadoes and hurricanes," Kar said. "We were investigating which technologies were best suited to which communities — how effective they are in getting the message across."

Cochran and Kar recently completed their four-year study involving three counties along the Coast — Hancock, Harrison and Jackson. The project was one of only 10 nationwide funded by the Department of Homeland Security to examine the effectiveness of the department's Wireless Emergency Alerts.

The two found residents prefer a number of warning technologies including TV, radio, Reverse 911 and cellphone. Sirens, despite their limited range, are also considered effective.

In recent years, considerable progress has been made in implementing the alert system, which pushes information to all cellphones in the area that is under risk of hazard.

Cochran said there is a problem with the system though: Not everyone has a smartphone, and the messages are short.

"That message by law can only be 90 characters, (something like) — 'Tornado coming, get out,' " he said. "Now that they've got the system in place, they want to start improving it."

The Federal Communications Commission is in the process of increasing the length to 360 characters in response to the results of the studies done for homeland security, Cochran said.

"Now they're trying to improve that message to include information about what needs to be done, where you need to go and additional information," he said.

But Cochran and Kar found no matter what the message says, residents may not pay attention to it, depending on what other people near them are doing.

"They are going to rely on family and friends," Cochran said. "When it comes to taking an action, especially evacuation, they rely on family and friends for what action they are going to take — 'Hey, are you guys also going?'

"The message is targeting the individual, but we act as a group. That was an interesting finding we didn't expect. It's really about peer decisions."

Cochran said lower income, less-educated and elderly people were less likely to respond to the cellphone message.

"In emergency management, you're always trying to improve, so you want to know who's not responding because that individual is in harm's way," he said. "Using the information, we can see these are the communities that are not listening and try to reach out and help them respond in a positive manner."

Cochran said the study's findings are valuable in helping officials know who to reach out to during an emergency.

"The more we can understand how people think and operate during an emergency, the better we can mitigate the situation and reduce the loss of life and injuries," he said.