That is just a drill!
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that the organizations have scheduled a nationwide test of their Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) at roughly 2:20 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
Try to not be alarmed.
The WEA portion of the test shall be directed in any respect consumer cell phones, while the EAS portion shall be sent to radios and televisions.
Each of those tests are standard practices and have been run before.
The WEA message will arrive inside half-hour and will appear on people’s cell phones during that point, reading: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No motion is required.”
The EAS portion will last for 1 minute as radio and tv broadcasters, cable systems, satellite
radio and tv providers and wireline video providers announce: “It is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the US from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is just a test. No motion is required by the general public.”
The test message will display in either English or Spanish, depending on the language preference set by the owner of the device.
Nonetheless, if severe weather or one other significant event coincidentally occurs, the tests shall be postponed and rescheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 11.
The tests are being planned to ensure that the national emergency alert systems work effectively within the event of an actual emergency.
This comes as extreme weather events grow to be more frequent across the globe.
Within the U.S. alone, states including Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Nevada, California and Washington have suffered catastrophic weather events — including wildfires, record temperatures, tropical storms and Hurricane Idalia — in recent weeks.
