A massive emergency alert test will reportedly sound alarms on all U.S. cellphones, television sets, and radios in October, in the wake of the deadly wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
On October 4, every cellphone, TV, and radio in the United States will blast a warning tone of an emergency alert, in order to ensure that the nation’s Emergency Alert system is working correctly in the event of a national disaster or attack, according to a report by USA Today.
The emergency alert will most likely read, “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.”
On cellphones, a text message will read, “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
For phones on which the main menu has been set to Spanish, the text will read, “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.”
The message will go out at the same time for everyone, across every U.S. time zone, which will be 2:20 p.m. Eastern time, 1:20 p.m. Central time, 12:20 p.m. Mountain time, 11:20 a.m. on the West Coast, 10:20 a.m. in Alaska, and 8:20 a.m. in Hawaii.
When the alarms sound, TV shows will be interrupted, radio programming will be stopped, and phones will get a blaring warning message.
The emergency alert test is reportedly scheduled to last about one minute.
The reason for this test is reportedly due to federal emergency management coordinators wanting to make sure the national alert system in the U.S. is still an effective way to warn Americans about emergencies, natural catastrophes, attacks, and accidents on a national level.
The test is being conducted in participation with radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers, and wireline video providers.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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