Aspects discussed herein relate to providing alerts to a community of devices located in or near a geographic are such as a building or property. The alerts override any alert-inhibiting state of the mobile device to deliver audio, visual, and/or haptic alerts in emergency situations. The communication and emergency alert system may be used to communicate with many different communities of people. Moreover, certain individuals may be members of more than one community at the same time, and the communities themselves may change over time based both on the user's preferences and on their physical locations. User interaction with their mobile devices and/or provided alerts can be monitored and tracked to determine engagement with the emergency alert system. Additional alerts can be provided on other devices associated with the user until the user is confirmed to have received the alert.