The first nationwide test of the new and improved Emergency Alert System (EAS) will take place at 2:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time) on Wednesday, November 9. Why this particular day? Well, this date was picked because it’s near the end of hurricane season, which ends November 30th, and before the worst of the severe winter weather season starts. The purpose of the EAS is to alert the public about local and state emergencies, as well as to be a channel for the President of the United States to address the nation in a national emergency. The national EAS has never been activated, even on 9/11.
Image: FCC.gov
The test will serve as a way to review the reliability and effectiveness of the EAS public alert system nationwide. Television and radio broadcasts will be interrupted for about three minutes and, in some cases, there will be total blackouts of broadcast and satellite services. “This is a Test” will be stated in the audio portion, but for video there will be a text crawl that says “A Primary Entry Point station has issued an Emergency Action Notification.”
After all these years, why is a nationwide test important now? Even though we’ll hopefully never have to use it, we need to know that the system will work if public safety officials ever need to send an alert or warning to a large region across the United States. These national tests will be conducted at least once a year beginning this year.
Hopefully, everything will go according to plan and the nationwide test will be a success. Are you ready if a disaster strikes? Check out ImpactWeather’s Business Continuity section which will leave you asking, are you ImpactReady?
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