Town of Chevy Chase View issued the following announcement on Oct. 2.
FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on Wednesday, October 3, 2018. This will be the fourth nationwide EAS test and the first nationwide WEA test. The purpose of the test is to ensure that EAS and WEA are both effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level.
The WEA portion of the test, which will be sent to cell phones, will begin at 2:18 p.m. EDT. The WEA test will read “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed”. The WEA test message will initiate a special tone and vibration, both repeated twice. Users can dismiss the alert once received but they cannot opt out of the Presidential Alerts WEA test.
The EAS portion of the test, which will be sent to radio and television, will follow at 2:20 p.m. EDT. The EAS test message will include a reference to the WEA test: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Emergency Alert System. This system was developed by broadcast and cable operators in voluntary cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communication Commission, and local authorities to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency an official message would have followed the tone alert you heard at the start of this message. A similar wireless emergency alert test message has been sent to all cell phones in the nation. Some cell phones will receive the message. Others will not. No action is required.
For more information on this tests, visit: https://www.fema.gov/emergency-alert-test
Original source can be found here.
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