RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Emergency alerts for everything from tornadoes to missing children and terror warnings will get out to the public through an expanded weather radio network, the government announced Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's network already makes emergency weather warnings available to 97 percent of the country and has added alerts for missing children and other hazards in recent years.

The addition of the Homeland Security Department to the system will allow terror alerts and warnings to be distributed automatically through the same way.

``This agreement is an example of interagency cooperation that ... can be applied to protect the homeland from both man-made and natural disasters,'' said Frank Libutti, undersecretary for information analysis and infrastructure protection at Homeland Security.

Added NOAA Administrator Conrad C. Lautenbacher: ``Today, radios, televisions and other devices are equipped to sound the alarm when danger threatens. Warnings and alerts can also be sent to cell phones, pagers and computers, ensuring that these vital messages can reach every corner of America.''

Special radios that automatically turn on and sound an alarm when it is received are popular in areas subject to tornado, hurricane and other weather threats. The devices are in use in many public places, stores.

Lautenbacher noted that the system encodes messages to a specific area where a threat occurs.

NOAA also cooperates with the Emergency Alert System, operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which sends alerts to local radio and television stations and cable systems.

Beginning more than three decades ago with weather warnings over special radios, the NOAA system has become an all-hazards network. It covers natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanoes; serious accidents, such as chemical releases; nuclear power plant emergencies; train derailments; maritime concerns; and 911 outages.

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What is it?

All Hazards/Weather Emergency Alert Radios are special receivers that tune to the 24/7 broadcasts issued by the National Weather Service.

These broadcasts can be received up to 50 miles from any NOAA transmitter, and the radios can be easily tuned to find the clearest signal nearest to the user’s location.

All Hazard/Alert Weather Radios have an innovative automatic alert system. In the event of special warning broadcasts, the radio is automatically activated when the unit is in silent standby mode along with a loud tone, a flashing red LED indicator, and an “alert” message in the LCD.

WHAT IS S.A.M.E.?  Specific Area Message Encoding S.A.M.E. - Is a feature in Weather Radios that allows you to program in your county code or counties codes. This will eliminate any Alerts that are not within your programmed Specific Area. For example, if you only want to be informed for alerts within your county just program in your county code. But, if you want to be informed about counties that are North, South, East and West of you, you can do so.

TYPES OF ALERTS

Blizzard Warning, Coastal Flood Watch, Coastal Flood Warning, Dust Storm Warning, Flash Flood Watch, Flash Flood Warning, Flash Flood, Statement Flood, Watch Flood Warning, Flood Statement High, Wind Watch, High Wind Warning, Hurricane Watch, Hurricane Warning, Hurricane Statement, Severe Thunderstorm Watch, Severe Thunderstorm Warning, Severe Weather Statement, Special Marine Warning, Special Weather Statement, Tornado Watch, Tornado Warning, Tropical Storm Watch, Tropical Storm Warning, Tsunami Watch, Tsunami Warning, Winter Storm Watch, Winter Storm Warning, Non-Weather-Related Events, Emergency Action, Notification Emergency Action, Avalanche Warning, Child Abduction Emergency, Civil Danger Warning, Civil Emergency Message, Earthquake Warning, Fire Warning, Hazardous Materials Warning, Law Enforcement Warning, Local Area Emergency 911 Telephone Outage Emergency, Nuclear Power Plant Warning, Radiological Hazard Warning, Shelter in Place Warning, Volcano Warning

NOAA, National Weather Service

Click here to see our selection of Weather & Homeland Security Warning Radios