Image : melissa mjoen on Unsplash

Wherever you are at 2:18 p.m. E astern time today, prepare yourself for a loud noise. No, nothing’s wrong; it’s just the P resident ( and the Federal Emergency Management Agency) sending you a message.




FEMA is testing out its new Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts at precisely 2:18 p.m. and 2:20 p.m. today. Your phone will vibrate and emit a warning signal, the same one used for tornado warnings and Amber Alert siren. FEMA says that the tests “will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether improvements are needed.”

Some cell phones will also receive a text message reading, “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”


T hese text messages are sent by the authority of the P resident, and can’t technically be blocked. However, you can try a few of these strategies if you really don’t want to receive them.



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The test will last for 30 minutes. This means if FEMA can’t reach you at 2:18 or 2:20, it will try for a half hour. So if you really don’t want to deal with it (or you’re in a meeting or a movie or something like that), turn off your phone or put it in airplane mode for half an hour.