Reposting from lb
Public Service Announcement about the upcoming Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) Emergency Alert System (EAS)/Weather Emergency Alert (WEA) national test on October 3, 2018. [Transcript:] The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), partnering with the Federal Communication Commission, will have a national test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) with radio, TV, cable stations, and wireless carriers at 2:20PM EDT on October 3, 2018. The WEA will be available for 30 minutes while the cell towers broadcasts the national test message. Cell phones that are turned on and near an active cell tower will be able to receive the test message. Your phone should only receive the test message once. Both EAS and WEA test messages will start with “THIS IS A TEST” and end with “No action is needed.” Public safety officials need to make sure when an emergency or disaster happens, they have a process and system that will send out important alerts and warnings to the public. Testing the public alert and warning system once in a while is a way for us to make sure the infrastructure for broadcasting a national message is ready and able to send the message successfully, and help us decide what improvements we may need to make.