Your phone just sounded an alarm. Don't panic.
- FEMA is working with the FCC to send out a nationwide test of the emergency alert system.
- The test was held on Wednesday, October 4 at about 2:20 p.m. EST, alerting phones, TVs and radios.
Well, that was loud!
On Wednesday afternoon, your phone probably got an alert if you live in the US. Don't be alarmed, it was just a scheduled test from the emergency alert system.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, more commonly known as FEMA, partnering with the Federal Communications Commission and Puerto Rico Emergency Management Bureau, sent out a test of the emergency alert system. The agency says the alert was scheduled to go out on Oct. 4 at about 2:20 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. That's why phones, TVs, and radios went off at around that time.
It was a nationwide test scheduled to go off at 2:20 p.m. EST, but the time it went off depends on where you are in the US. 2:20 p.m. EST is 1:20 p.m. CST, 12:20 p.m. MST, 11:20 a.m. PST, and 8:20 a.m. for those in Hawaii.
The Oct. 4 notification was broadcast by cell towers for about 30 minutes, but the emergency alert should have only lasted about one minute, according to FEMA. Your phone may have vibrated and made a sound as you got a text message with the alert. TVs and radios also got the alert.
The phone alert displayed the text, "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed," according to FEMA. Those who have their phone's language set to Spanish should have received a notification in Spanish. The notification was sent out to everyone in the US, Puerto Rico, and Guam who is within range of a cell tower.
"These test alerts are necessary to verify that the system is working properly so that, in a real case, citizens will know what to do," Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency Commissioner Nino Correa Filomeno said, according to the FEMA press release.
The EAS normally sends out notifications for severe weather and amber alerts, according to the FCC. It is able to broadcast messages by radio and TV, along with wireless emergency alerts that are received via text message.
FEMA and the FCC testing out the emergency alert system is not out of the ordinary. The EAS was also tested in 2021. FEMA also sent out a test of the "presidential alert" system back in 2018.
The EAS is not immune to human error or ill-intentioned hackers. The most notable mistake was the 2018 alert warning those in Hawaii of an incoming ballistic missile, which sent many residents and vacationers into a panic. A more absurd example is from 2013 when hackers sent out a zombie apocalypse alert in Montana.