FCC Announces Email Address for State Disaster Requests
The FCC unveiled an email address that state officials can use when requesting activation of the agency’s Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative for wireless providers. Released Tuesday, the information was contained in a public notice and a press release tying the…
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agency's recent public safety moves to preparations for Atlantic hurricane season. “After each hurricane, we examine what worked, what didn’t work, and what lessons we can apply to improve access to communications during future disasters,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in the release. “That led us to adopt the new Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative, which requires wireless providers to collaborate during disasters so that people can stay connected when they most need it.” The MDRI requires wireless providers and public safety officials assist each other during disasters to prevent outages and facilitate service restoration. In Tuesday’s PN announcing procedures for state activation requests, the Public Safety Bureau said state officials must email the requests to activate the MDRI rules to: MDRI@fcc.gov. “In their requests, states will need to demonstrate that they have activated their State Emergency Operations Center, activated mutual aid, or proclaimed a local state of emergency.” The Public Safety Bureau “will announce grant of a state request to activate the MDRI by releasing a Public Notice stating the counties of interest for which the MDRI activation applies,” Tuesday’s PN said. Along with the MDRI procedures, the FCC’s release listed improvements to outage reporting and increased sharing of that information with state officials as among its preparations for the hurricane season. In addition, it added rules and proposed rules aimed at making emergency alerts multilingual.