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On September 20th, FEMA will conduct a test of its Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), which brings together two existing warning systems, the Alert System, and the Public Alert System (IPAWS). emergency and wireless emergency alert system. an update to the public in case of emergency.
FEMA says it is testing the system to "assess the readiness" of a national emergency message and to "determine if improvements are needed". The WEA test will take place at 2:18 pm ET on the 20th, in the form of a text message. cell phones (which will have a different ringing and vibration), while the EAS test will take place two minutes later via TV, radio and fixed-line providers, with more than 100 providers participating in the test. Any cell phone "turned on, within range of an active cell tower and whose wireless service provider is participating in WEA must be able to receive the test message." The message will be accompanied by the "header" Presidential alert "the first time. message type has been issued, and recipients will not be able to reject them.
The agency has published the text of the message and notes that it is the fourth test of the EAS system (it was tested in November 2011, September 2016 and September 2017), but that it is not the same. is the first time the WEA system has been tested. at the national level.
"THIS IS A TEST of the National Emergency Alert System. This system was developed by the broadcasting and cable operators in voluntary cooperation with the Federal Agency for Emergency Management, the Federal Communications Commission and the local authorities to keep you informed in case of emergency. If this had been a real emergency, an official message would have followed the sound alert that you heard at the beginning of this message. A similar wireless emergency alert test message has been sent to all mobile phones in the country. Some cell phones will receive the message; others will not do it. No action is required.
TechCrunch notes that these types of alerts were set up in 2006 by President George W. Bush and that they can be sent at the discretion of President Donald Trump, but points out that experts have downplayed the possibility that the system is misused and the benefits of a national system of public alert to major crises.
The WEA system is the same as that used to alert the public in case of AMBER alert or critical weather situation, and it comes after a terrifying incident in January when an alert was issued in January to warn the Hawaii residents that a missile was about to hit the state. As a result of this false alert, the FCC opened an investigation and it became clear that the test was done in error due to human error and a poorly designed computer interface. The FCC also noted that it would make additional changes to the system.
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