The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to conduct a nationwide test to gauge how effective the government’s mass communication can be in the event of an emergency, the agency said in a statement.
The test will be conducted in conjunction with the Federal Communications Commission.
Cell phone will sound and display the message: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
The purpose of the test is to analyze how effective sending nationwide messages is in the event of an emergency. Recipients of the alerts do not need to do anything, FEMA officials said.
The agency will send the alert with both a unique tone and vibration to make sure the message is accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities, the agency said.
The alert is split into two portions, one to test the Wireless Emergency Alerts and another to test the Emergency Alert System.
The Wireless Emergency Alert test will target all cell phones and will display in either English or Spanish — whichever language to which the cell phone’s settings is set. The Emergency Alert System test will target all radios and televisions nationwide, according to the agency.
The television and radio portion on the test will last approximately one minute on radio and television broadcast stations, cable systems, satellite radio and other television and video providers.
This will be the second time an emergency alert test has been sent to all cell phones nationwide, FEMA officials said. It will also be the seventh test sent to televisions and radios nationwide.
The most recent nationwide emergency alert test was in August 2021.
The Oct. 4 test may be postponed to Oct. 11 if there is widespread severe weather or another significant event, officials said.
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