An emergency alert will be sent to your mobile phone on October 4 — but you don’t need to worry about it. Here’s why this is happening.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will conduct a nationwide emergency alert test tomorrow, Wednesday, October 4. The test will involve two types of alerts: wireless emergency alerts (WEA) and the emergency alert system (EAS).
According to a government release, it will take place at approximately 2:20 p.m. EDT.
The WEA portion of the test will involve all consumer cell phones in the U.S., including the all-new Apple iPhone 15 series, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, and basically any phone made in the past decade. At the specified time, consumers will receive a text message in either English or Spanish, depending on the language settings on their cell phones. This is the third WEA test to be conducted in the U.S., and it aims to evaluate the system’s effectiveness in delivering critical messages to the public in times of emergency.
The EAS test involves sending voice messages to radios and televisions and is the seventh national test overall.