The new Presidential Alert messaging system will be tested at 1:18 Central time Wednesday afternoon. People across the U.S. will get a loud tone and vibration on their smartphones.
Nebraska Emergency Management Agency wants to make sure Nebraskans are prepared for the nationwide test of the Wireless Emergency Message System.
“This is the first national test of the WEA system which is used to warn the public about dangerous weather, AMBER Alerts and other critical situations through alerts on cell phones,” said NEMA Assistant Director Bryan Tuma. “Testing the system that public safety officials use to deliver urgent alerts and warnings to the public in times of an emergency or disaster is necessary. Since this is the first test, we want to make sure no one is caught off guard.”
According to FEMA the tests will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether technological improvement are needed.
The WEA test message will read “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” The EAS test is scheduled to last approximately 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.
The test message will be similar to regular monthly EAS test messages with which the public is familiar.