On Wednesday, October 3rd, a nationwide test of the emergency alerting system will be conducted by FEMA, in coordination for the FCC; testing of Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), and the Emergency Alert System (EAS),
The WEA portion of the test commences at 2:18 pm EDT, and the EAS portion follows at 2:20 pm EDT. The test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether improvements are needed.
The national test will use the same special tone as with a Tornado or AMBER Alert.
The WEA system is used to warn the public of dangerous weather, missing children and other critical situations. The WEA test message will have a header that reads “Presidential Alert” and a text that reads, THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alerting System. No action is needed.
The EAS is a national public warning system that provides the President with the communications capability to address the nation during a national emergency. A TEST MESSAGE will also follow the Alert.
