The federal government will conduct a nationwide alert test on Wednesday, October 4. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will send notifications to cell phones (as well as radios and TVs) to test the National Wireless Emergency Alert System and ensure the system (including the public’s familiarity with it) is ready for a real crisis.

The cellphone portion of the test will assess Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) nationwide. If you live near a decent-sized metro area, there’s a solid chance you’ve received AMBER alerts through this system before; it can also broadcast signals for imminent threats, public safety and presidential notices in a national emergency. The test’s WEA portion will use FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), a centralized internet-based system that can broadcast emergency notifications through various communications networks.

If your cell phone is set to English, you’ll receive a message at around 2:20PM ET reading, “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” Those with phones set to Spanish as their primary language will see, “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.” Of course, the messages will be accompanied by a “unique tone and vibration.” Based on past tests we’ve received, that could easily be described as “a jarring and obnoxious alarm that will immediately make you stop what you’re doing, utter select obscenities and pick up your phone to make it stop.”

Using the Emergency Alert System (EAS), the television and radio portion of the assessment is scheduled to happen simultaneously. This will be the seventh nationwide EAS test. The cell phone part of the test is scheduled to last for about 30 minutes, but you should be able to dismiss the notification and shut up your phone as soon as you see and hear it. And in the (extremely unlikely) event of an actual emergency on Wednesday, the test will take place a week later on the backup date of October 11.

highdesert wrote: Sun Oct 01, 2023 11:56 am That is 11:20 am PDT: 12:20 pm MDT: 1:20 pm CDT: and 2:20 pm EDT. Hawaii and Alaska times are different.

CDFingers wrote: Sun Oct 01, 2023 12:47 pm Personally, I want to see what is looks/sounds like.

CDFingers

The U.S. and Russia have both announced they will be holding nationwide emergency alert exercises on Wednesday. Tensions between Washington and Moscow have intensified throughout Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin issued vague nuclear threats in February over Western tank supplies to Ukraine.

"Hearing the sound of a siren, you need to remain calm and not panic, turn on the TV—any publicly accessible channel or radio—and listen to the information message," Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations (MCHS) said via its Telegram channel. The ministry said such drills are necessary "to be confident in the performance of all existing systems for the timely delivery of signals and information to the population in the event of emergency situations."

According to independent Russian news outlet Meduza, such drills are carried out in Russia at least once a year. The announcements fueled speculation that Russia is launching a "nuclear war preparation drill." "Nationwide Nuclear Preparation in Russia and Emergency Alert Test in the US," said a post by X (formerly Twitter) user Terror_Alarm, which has been viewed more than 26,000 times at the time of writing. "Russia starts first ever Nationwide Nuclear War preparation drill today Oct 3," it said, providing an erroneous date for Moscow's emergency alert drills. "US announces Nationwide Emergency Alert Test tomorrow Oct. 4 at 2:20 p.m. EDT."

sig230 wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2023 11:15 am All my watches also have SIM cards and a phone line so each of them also got the notice. Six of the watches were turned off and so it was just the watch I was wearing and the one on the charger that alarmed. Interestingly acknowledging the alarm on the watch I was wearing twice also turned off the watch on the charger. When I turned my cell phone back on later it too got the alarm. I guess as the other watches move into rotation I'll touch "OK" on each.

INVICTVS138 wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2023 5:28 pm

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