Nationwide Test Of The Emergency Alert System September 20th

If you get a strange emergency message on your phone on September 20th, not to worry. It's just a test.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert on September 20th. The WEA portion of the test will take place at 1:18 PM and the EAS portion follows at 1:20. The test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure and determine whether technological improvements are needed.

The EAS test will last about one minute and is made available to EAS participants including radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers, and wireline video providers.

Some cell phones will receive the message; others will not. It depends on your carrier. It will read “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

You can read more about the test by clicking here.