An emergency alert is a message sent to the public to provide important information about an emergency situation. Emergency alerts can be delivered through various channels, including television, radio, mobile devices, and sirens. In the United States, the Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national warning system designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via cable, satellite, or broadcast television, and both AM/FM and satellite radio. The EAS is commonly used by state and local authorities to deliver important emergency information, such as weather and AMBER alerts, to affected communities over television and radio. Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) are another type of emergency alert that can be sent to mobile devices when the public may be in harms way. WEAs are short emergency messages from authorized federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial public alerting authorities that can be broadcast from cell towers to any WEA-enabled mobile device in a locally targeted area.

Emergency alerts can be triggered by various types of emergencies, including natural disasters, severe weather, terrorist attacks, and other threatening emergencies that are current or emerging. Presidential Alerts are a special class of alerts only sent during a national emergency, while Imminent Threat Alerts include natural or human-made disasters, extreme weather, active shooters, and other threatening emergencies that are current or emerging. Public Safety Alerts contain information about a threat that may not be imminent or after an imminent threat has occurred. Americas Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) Alerts are urgent bulletins issued in child-abduction cases.

Emergency alerts are an important tool for public safety officials to alert the public of an emergency situation and provide instructions on how to stay safe. It is important for individuals to be aware of the different types of emergency alerts and how they are delivered in their area.