[Scan-DC] FEMA to Conduct Nationwide Test of the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert System this Month

[Alan Henney]

https://montgomerycomd.blogspot.com/2018/09/fema-to-conduct-nationwide-test-of.html


WEA messages are transmitted through an individual’s cell phone. The WEA
capacity is installed by the manufacturers of cell phones. They produce a
loud alert signal, which if you haven’t heard it before, could come as a
surprise. The alert volume can be controlled by individual cell phone
settings. The text message will be: “This is a test. No action is needed.”

This past April, through the Metropolitan Council of Governments, emergency
managers throughout our region, planned and conducted a regional test of
the Wireless Emergency Alert system (WEA). Now the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the Federal Communications
Commission, will conduct a nationwide test of both WEA and the Emergency
Alert System (EAS).

The primary date selected is Thursday, Sept. 20. If a real emergency were
to occur on that date, the secondary date for testing is Oct. 3. The WEA
test would take place at 2:18 p.m. and the EAS test is scheduled to follow
at 2:20 p.m.

The test is intended to ensure public safety officials have the methods and
systems that will deliver urgent alerts and warnings to the public during
an emergency or disaster. Periodic testing of public alert and warning
systems is also a way to assess the operational readiness of the
infrastructure required for the distribution of a national message and
determine whether technological improvements are needed.

The EAS test is scheduled to last approximately one minute and is made
available to EAS participants including radio and television broadcasters,
cable systems, satellite radio and television providers, and wireline video
providers. The message begins with: “This is a test of the National
Emergency Alert System.”

Learn more from FEMA’s press release.