The US Federal Communications Commission and Federal Emergency Management Agency will be conducting a nationwide test of the emergency alert system on Wednesday, October 4th. This test will involve sending emergency messages to phones, TVs, and radios.
The test will include both the Emergency Alert System (EAS) for TVs and radios, and the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system for phones. This is the seventh nationwide EAS test, but the second test to include all cellular devices in the US.
The test will begin at around 2:20 p.m. ET/11:20 a.m. PT, with cell towers broadcasting an emergency alert for 30 minutes. If your phone is within range of a cell tower, you will receive a message stating, “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” The language of the alert will depend on your phone’s set language, with options for English or Spanish. The phone alerts will also include a unique tone and vibration to ensure accessibility.
For TVs and radios, the alert will last for 1 minute and will state, “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.”
In the event of severe weather or another emergency on October 4th, the test will be postponed until October 11th.
The emergency alerts sent during the test are meant to simulate real-life situations. In non-test situations, these alerts may include public safety alerts, AMBER alerts during child-abduction crises, and presidential alerts in case of national emergencies. There are also alerts for imminent threats such as extreme weather and natural disasters, active shooters, human-made disasters, blue alerts for attacks on law enforcement officers, and other threatening emergencies.
It’s important to note that WEA messages are unaffected by network congestion, ensuring that these emergency alerts can be delivered even during times of high network usage.
