U.S. government conducting a nationwide emergency alert Wednesday

The federal government is testing its emergency alert system Wednesday afternoon. The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System—which combines two systems for phones and broadcast media—allows the government to notify people of emergencies through their smartphones, televisions, and radios. The test is scheduled for 2:20 p.m. EST on Wednesday and will last for 30 minutes. If mobile phone owners leave their phones off during the half-hour window, they will not receive the emergency message.

Why is the test happening? Federal law requires the emergency alert systems to be tested at least once every three years, and the last nationwide test was Aug. 11, 2021. The national Emergency Alert System for broadcast media was designed to provide the president with the means to address the American public within 10 minutes during a national emergency. Wireless Emergency Alerts are text messages of 360 characters or less that go to cell phones. People whose phones are set to the Spanish language receive them in Spanish.

Dig deeper: Listen to Nick Eicher’s story on The World and Everything in It podcast about an accidental Missouri emergency system test.