On September 20th around 2:20 pm ET your cell phone will get an emergency alert from the President of the United States. Don’t worry. This is only a test.
WASHINGTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alert(WEA) on September 20, 2018 (primary date) or October 3, 2018 (secondary date). The WEA portion of the test commences at 2:18 PM EDT and the EAS portion follows at 2:20 p.m. EDT. The test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether technological improvements are needed.
The Wireless Emergency Alerts system is an essential part of America’s emergency preparedness. Since its launch in 2012, the WEA system been used more than 33,000 times to warn the public about dangerous weather, missing children, and other critical situations – all through alerts on cell phones.
Wireless carriers volunteer to participate, according to the Feds so if you are unhappy about it, triggered, or find yourself needing therapy after the “intrusion,” call them.
Here’s the FCC’s 80-second video on the basics.
