Don't Stress, It's Only A Test of the Emergency Alert System

The first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System will be conducted Wednesday morning by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, authorities said.

The test will take place Wednesday at 11 a.m. PST and regularly scheduled television, radio, cable and satellite services will be interrupted, according to a press release issued Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The roughly 30-second test will measure the Emergency Alert System, an alert and warning system activated by the president during emergencies. It's also used by the National Weather Service, governors and other local authorities, as needed.

The public will hear a message indicating that "This is a test." The audio message will be the same on radio and television. The nationwide test will be similar to local and state tests that are held monthly. This is how the nationwide test will work: FEMA at 11 a.m. local time will transmit the Emergency Alert System code for national level emergencies to Primary Entry Point stations in the system's national level. The primary stations will then rebroadcast the alert to the general public and to the next level of broadcasters monitoring primary stations. This will continue through all levels of the system until the national alert has been distributed across the entire United States.

The Emergency Alert System is designed to transmit emergency alerts to the American public at the national, state and local levels. The Emergency Alert System has been in existence since 1994 and follows the Emergency Broadcast System that started in 1963. The Emergency Alert System has never been activated on a national level.

FEMA, which is an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, and the FCC have tested the system's national code in a limited basis in Alaska and lessons learned from that test will help the agencies conduct Wednesday's test. The test was scheduled to take place Nov. 9 because it was near the end of hurricane season and before the sever winter weather season. The broadcast time also was chosen to minimize disruption for rush hour commuters and to make sure the test worked during working hours across the country.

The test said should serve as a reminder for the public to have an emergency preparedness kit and emergency plan, FEMA officials said in a statement. Anyone who wants more information on how to prepare for a catastrophe and what to do in the event of an actual emergency can visit www.Ready.gov. Closer to home, ReadyLA, which is  provided by the City of Los Angeles Emergency Management Department, has resources about emergency preparedness and local emergency notifications.