Nationwide, multi-device emergency alert will soon terrify us all

That is Only a drill!

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that the organizations have scheduled a nationwide test of their Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) for Wednesday, October 4 at approximately 2:20 p.m. EST.

Try not to be alarmed.

The WEA portion of the test targets all consumer cell phones, while the EAS portion targets radios and televisions.

Both tests are standard procedures and have already been performed.

The WEA message will arrive within 30 minutes and should be on people’s cell phones during that time. It reads, “This is a test of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action required.”

The EAS portion will last 1 minute as radio and television stations, cable systems and satellite
Radio, television and wireline video providers announce, “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency covering the United States from 2:20 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. ET. This is just a test. There is no need for action on the part of the public.”

The test message is displayed in either English or Spanish depending on the language preference set by the device owner.

However, should severe weather or any other significant event occur by chance, testing will be postponed and rescheduled to Wednesday 11th October.

The tests are planned to ensure that the national emergency warning systems function effectively in the event of an emergency.

This is because extreme weather events are becoming more common around the world.

In the US alone, states like Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Nevada, California and Washington have seen catastrophic weather events in recent weeks – including wildfires, record temperatures, tropical storms and Hurricane Idalia.