Nationwide Test of Emergency Alert System
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will conduct the first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. At that time, an announcement will come on every TV and radio channel indicating that EAS has been activated; the announcement
will last about 30 seconds.
EAS alerts are sent over the radio or television (broadcast, cable and satellite). State and local emergency managers use these alerts to notify the public about emergencies and weather events, such as tornadoes and hurricanes. The EAS can also be used to send an alert across the United States if there is a national emergency. It is common for state and local EAS tests to occur on a monthly and weekly basis, respectively. They typically include an audio EAS tone and a visual message indicating: “This is a test of the Emergency Alerting System.” This is the first time that there will be a test of the nationwide EAS alert on all radio and television systems at the same time.
Although the activation will include an audio message indicating that this is a test, due to technical limitations, a visual message indicating that “this is a test” may not appear on every television channel, especially for cable subscribers. For these reasons, the FCC and FEMA are taking extra steps to educate the public, especially people who are deaf and hard of hearing, that “This is only a
test.” A video in American Sign Language, featuring Administrator Fugate and Neil McDevitt, FEMA Office of Disability Integration and Coordination can be found at: http://www.fema.gov/medialibrary/media_records/6407.
The purpose of the test is to assess how well the EAS can alert the public during certain national emergencies. The FCC and FEMA want to make consumers aware of the test so that they understand that this is only a test and that there is no real emergency.
The November 9th test will help ensure that the EAS will work if public safety officials ever need to send an alert or warning in a real emergency to the entire country or to a large region of the United States.
For more information about how this EAS test may affect you, please visit: www.fcc.gov/nationwideeastest.
Other helpful links include:
- FEMA Administrator’s Message – In English
- FEMA Administrator’s Message – In Spanish
