Test of National Emergency Alert System
Vice President for Administration Anna Martin sent the following message to the campus community on Nov. 7, 2011 with the following note. - Ed.
Test of National Emergency Alert System
The Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) on Wednesday, November 9, at approximately 2:00 pm. (EST)
The test will include transmission of a "live" Emergency Action Notification alert code to all TV and radio stations and cable providers that are EAS participants as well as a notice to the general public that the EAS has been activated for a national emergency. There will be an audible notice that "this is a test." The test will last approximately one minute.
Because this is a "live code" test, the automatically generated EAS text crawl on TV screens will display as an actual Emergency Action Notification. Nothing in the text crawl will indicate that the alert is a test. Broadcasters are being encouraged to use a text slide in conjunction with the crawl, but they are not required to do so. The only campus-owned resource that will be touched by the test is the cable redistribution system.
The FCC and FEMA have requested that broadcasters air public service announcements in advance of the test to assure the public that this is only a test.
Please share this information with your co-workers, friends and family.
More information about the national EAS test is available at:
• FCC: http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/
• FEMA: http://www.fema.gov/emergency/ipaws/eas_info.shtm
• National Association of Broadcasters: http://www.nab.org/documents/advocacy/EAS/EAS.asp
