FEMA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will test the nation’s public alert and warning systems at 2:20 p.m. ET today, Wednesday, August 11. FEMA regularly tests the public alert and warning systems to assess the operational readiness of the supporting infrastructure. The tests also help identify any needed technological and administrative improvements to the systems.
This week’s testing will be the sixth test of the nationwide public alert and warning systems and has been planned since June 2020. The purpose of the test is to assess the effectiveness of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to receive and convey a national message via radio and television and of the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) infrastructure to deliver a test message to mobile phones.
The test message sent to the WEA infrastructure will only be received by specially configured phones and will read:
“THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
Only phones that have been opted in specifically to receive system test messages will display the test message, which will be in either English or Spanish, depending on the device’s language settings. Most mobile phones will not display the test message.
In contrast, consumers will automatically receive real emergency alerts on compatible phones (even if they do not receive the test message). Instructions for how to opt-in to receive the test message on mobile devices can be found by clicking https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/weatest_opt-in_instructions.pdf
For the full FEMA press release, please click on the following link:
https://www.fema.gov/press-release/...ests-public-alert-and-warning-infrastructures
This week’s testing will be the sixth test of the nationwide public alert and warning systems and has been planned since June 2020. The purpose of the test is to assess the effectiveness of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to receive and convey a national message via radio and television and of the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) infrastructure to deliver a test message to mobile phones.
The test message sent to the WEA infrastructure will only be received by specially configured phones and will read:
“THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
Only phones that have been opted in specifically to receive system test messages will display the test message, which will be in either English or Spanish, depending on the device’s language settings. Most mobile phones will not display the test message.
In contrast, consumers will automatically receive real emergency alerts on compatible phones (even if they do not receive the test message). Instructions for how to opt-in to receive the test message on mobile devices can be found by clicking https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/weatest_opt-in_instructions.pdf
For the full FEMA press release, please click on the following link:
https://www.fema.gov/press-release/...ests-public-alert-and-warning-infrastructures
