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With all of the hurricanes and tropical storms that have been passing through the Pacific recently, you’ve probably been startled by emergency weather alerts on your cell phone.

If you’re like me, after recovering from the sudden, simultaneous squawks and vibrations on every phone within earshot, your first thought was, “Wow, I’d better head to Safeway and buy all of the bottled water.”

And, if you’re still like me, your second thought was, “Hmph, how’d they do that?”

Having ruminated on that second thought for a few months now between flash flood warnings, I figured that I’d dig into it to find out how those alerts are getting to my phone. Turns out, it’s a pretty neat partnership between wireless carriers and the federal government.

And yes, you can ,��but you probably shouldn’t.

Wireless Emergency Alerts were an outcome of the Warning, Alert and Response Network Act passed by Congress in 2006. The act allocated $106 million toward creating a system that, , would “alert and warn the American people in situations of war, terrorist attack, natural disaster or other hazards to public safety and well-being.”

According to the Federal Communications Commission, wireless alerts complement the Emergency Alert System, which is the traditional “attention signal” followed by the words, “This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System …” that we all remember. In other words, wireless alerts represent a way to get with the times and modernize a system that’s been around since the early-1960s.

While you do have the ability to disable the disaster and AMBER alerts, presidential alerts would go to all capable phones, even if you’ve disabled the alerts. The power of the presidency.

Although it’s voluntary, the big four wireless providers in the U.S. are all taking part, as are some smaller carriers. The service was deployed in April 2012, and can be used for the following types of alerts:

• Presidential Alerts, issued by the president or a designee;

• Imminent Threat Alerts for severe man-made or natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc., where an imminent threat to life or property exists; and

•  that meet the U.S. Department of Justice’s criteria to help law enforcement search for and locate an abducted child.

To receive wireless alerts, your phone needs to be compatible. Most phones built in the past few years have the capability built in, even some flip phones. Verizon of its alert-capable phones, if you’re interested.

The alerts can be sent by “pre-authorized” agencies at the national, state, tribal or local government level using automated “alert origination” software supplied by 18 vendors, including , , and . No, I’ve never heard of any of those companies either, but they were all required to from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, so they must be legit.

The software allows certain government agencies to send alerts through FEMA and on to the carrier-based systems at the participating providers, to your phone.

The alerts have a unique sound and vibration pattern, which hopefully piques your interest enough to note what’s going on and, if necessary, head to safety. However, it won’t trump your phone’s settings, so if you set your phone to silent, you won’t hear alerts. They also won’t interrupt ongoing calls.

What’s unique about the system is that it’s independent from text and voice signals, so it doesn’t rely on that bandwidth to get to your phone. That’s particularly important during an emergency, when citizens might be jamming the bandwidth with calls and text to family and emergency services. Even if you’re blocked from making or receiving a voice call with an “all circuits are busy” message, these alerts will still get to you.

What’s really cool is that the alerts can be broadcast from individual wireless towers, so the message is sent to phones connected to a specific set of towers, not just broadcast to a whole state or county. It also means that if you’re in Waikiki and there’s an emergency alert specific to that area, it’s sent to all phones connected to those transmitters, whether you’re a local from Makiki or a tourist from Omaha.

That’s also why, during our recent flurry of flash flood warnings, you may have received an alert while acquaintances didn’t because they weren’t in the affected area.

Although totally distinct from text messages, the alerts are similar in that they are limited to 90 characters and include information on the sender, what’s happening and what action to take.

And while you do have the ability to disable the disaster and AMBER alerts, presidential alerts would go to all capable phones, even if you’ve disabled the alerts. The power of the presidency.

Unlike text messages, there’s no charge to receive an alert.

In addition to warning of weather emergencies, they’ve also been directly responsible for the return of an abducted child. In 2013, a child in Minneapolis was kidnapped and to nearby phones. Within minutes, the kidnapper’s vehicle was spotted by a teenager, who then called 911, resulting in the quick apprehension of the suspect and return of the child.

FEMA’s website across the country that are approved to use WEAs. But in the islands, Hawaii State Civil Defense is the only currently approved entity. Hawaii County is in the process of receiving approval.