Americans brace for emergency alert test on October 4. What to expect?

United States will test a nationwide alert system on Wednesday (Oct 4) at 2:20 pm ET. The alert system will blare out distinctive tone of an emergency alert on all TV, radio and cellphone in the US. Officially, the trial is called the Nationwide Emergency Alert Test.

There is no need to panic if you see an emergency alert with loud blaring sound on your phone, as it is only a test and not an actual emergency. It will be accompanied by an explanation of the test.

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Similar kinds of emergency test also took place in India and in some parts of Europe last month.

What is the emergency alert test?

The nationwide emergency test consists of two parts, which occur in combination with one another, in order to test the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). The WEA will be directed to all cellphones, while the EAS will notify all radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers and wireline video providers.

The message will be heard and seen almost every part of USA. It is being conducted with the participation of radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio companies and cellphones networks.

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What will the emergency alert test say?

All across the United States, broadcast TV shows and radio will be interrupted as the emergency message goes out. That message will say:

“This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public."

Cellphones will get the warning as a tone, a vibration and as a text message: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

Timing of emergency alert test

The alert will air at the same moment across every time zone in the country starting at 2:20 pm ET on Wednesday (Oct 4). The test is scheduled to last approximately one minute. It will only go out once, there will be no repeats.

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What is the need of emergency alert test?

Federal emergency management coordinators want the national alert system to be active and available at every corner of the United States. This test is done to make sure that the system is still and effective way to warn Americans about emergencies, natural catastrophes, attacks and accidents at the national level.

(With inputs from agencies)

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