KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Don’t be worried if your cell phone suddenly goes off on you Wednesday afternoon.
FEMA, along with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is conducting a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA).
The national test will consist of two portions, testing WEA and EAS capabilities. Both tests will begin at 1:20 p.m. CT on Wednesday, Aug. 11.
The EAS national test is very similar to regular monthly tests typically originated by state authorities.
During the test, radios and televisions across the country may interrupt normal programming to play the EAS test message. The message may be delivered in English or Spanish.
The WEA test will be directed only to consumer cell phones where the person has opted-in to receive test messages, which will be in either English or Spanish, depending on the device’s language settings.
