This 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 approximately 2:20 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
Try not to be alarmed.
The WEA portion of the test will be directed at all consumer cell phones, while the EAS portion will be sent to radios and televisions.
Both of these tests are standard practices and have been run before.
The WEA message will arrive within 30 minutes and should appear on people’s cell phones during that time, reading: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
The EAS portion will last for 1 minute as radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite
radio and television providers 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 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.”
The test message will display in either English or Spanish, depending on the language preference set by the owner of the device.
However, if severe weather or another significant event coincidentally occurs, the tests will be postponed and rescheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 11.
The tests are being planned to guarantee that the national emergency alert systems work effectively in the event of an actual emergency.
This comes as extreme weather events become more frequent across the globe.
In 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.