The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be conducting the first-ever nationwide test of the Wireless Alert System (WEA) this Wednesday, October 3rd, at 2:18 PM EDT. WEA messages are issued by local, state, and federal emergency management officials to warn the public about dangerous weather, missing children, and other critical situations through geo-targeted alerts on cell phones. This test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether improvements are needed. The WEA test message will read “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
While no action is required as a part of this test, we recommend you take the opportunity to review the WEA settings on your mobile device to ensure you are receiving timely emergency alerts. Instructions for locating the WEA settings on your Apple and Android device may be found at the below:
Apple - https://goo.gl/TtMgeg
Android - https://goo.gl/gMGb8m
In addition to the above, FEMA will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) on Wednesday, October 3rd at 2:20 PM EDT. The EAS test is scheduled to last approximately one minute and is made available to EAS participants including radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, and satellite media providers. The test message will appear on television/radio broadcasts and will be similar to the regular monthly EAS test messages with which the public is familiar.
More information regarding these tests may be found on the official FEMA press release: https://goo.gl/s6g6Y4.