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HANNIBAL, MO. -- Marion County is ready to send you a Code Red.

It's a new emergency alert system that uses your landline telephone. But if you or your business don't have a landline, you have to sign up with your cell phone number.

All you need to sign up is your cell phone and the internet.

"You can go in on one of four websites and click on one of those any four sites a banner that's going to pop up and fill out the information and add your cell phone," John Hark, Marion County Emergency Management Director said.

When signing up online, you can choose the type of alerts you want to receive and how often you want to get them.

There is no emergency too small for the Code Red Emergency Alert System. It's available for Marion County law enforcement, fire, medical and first response teams, plus weather and other warnings.

"The NOAA National Weather is going to automatically going to come out," Hark said. "The other messages that we put out will give it to 9-1-1, they simply encode the area that has to be included and they push the button and the voice call goes out."

Hark does not believe this should be your only source for emergency information.

"Don't think this should replace the sirens or weather radios or any one of them replaces the other it doesn't this is just yet a redundant system to help keep things going," Hark said. But having these alerts at resident's finger tips could save lives.

"If we can get the word to the public then they can maybe protect themselves a little better and if we can save life in limb then we've done exactly what we wanted to do," Hark said.

If you live in Marion County, do not have a land line and would like to sign up for Code Red, click here.