The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national public warning system that state and local governments can use to interrupt regular programming and deliver urgent emergency information via TV, radio, cable and satellite services. The EAS can also be activated nationwide by the federal government to enable the President to address the public during a national emergency. EAS participants – radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers, and wireline video providers – deliver state and local alerts on a voluntary basis, but they are required to deliver Presidential alerts. The majority of EAS alerts originate from the National Weather Service in response to severe weather events, but the counties or the state can also use the system to communicate urgent emergency instructions such as evacuation or shelter-in-place orders, or to issue AMBER alerts. FEMA and the FCC work collaboratively to maintain the Emergency Alert System and they establish standards and procedures for system use.