Emergency Agency SystemDHS to broadcast first ever nationwide EAS test

Yesterday at 2 PM eastern standard time, the first ever nationwide Emergency Agency System (EAS) test took place, in an effort to help strengthen the effectiveness of the EAS as a means of notifying the American public of emergencies and potential dangers both regionally and nationally.

The Chicago Homeland Security Examiner reported that the United States DHS, in cooperation with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), originally announced the date of the planned test back in June, on the heels of the FCC’s Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on 26 May 2011. 

The purpose of the test was to determine the reliability and effectiveness of EAS as a way of alerting the American public of emergencies and potential dangers. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the FCC will use the results of the test to address any vulnerabilities of the system and to determine what improvements are necessary to ensure that the EAS functions as a fit public warning system.

According to FEMA, the event was similar to the frequent weekly and monthly EAS tests at the state and local level that last thirty seconds. However, the nationwide test lased three and a half minutes and included broadcast radio and television stations, cable television, satellite radio and television services, as well as wireline video service providers across all U.S. states and the territories.

The FCC believes that since the EAS is the primary alerting system available to the American public, having it run at optimum effectiveness could make the difference in saving lives if a national disaster were to occur. The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Chief, James A. Barnett Jr., argues that early warnings save lives, as demonstrated in the March 2011earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan. As devastating as the disaster was, emergency management experts from around the world agreed that if not for Japan’s early warning systems, the loss of life would have been much greater. 

Barnett acknowledges that this test is only the first step in making the EAS an efficient early warning device. “We will likely conduct the test periodically to ensure that the EAS is, and remains, functional. I am very proud of the work that our Alerting Team at the FCC and our counterparts at our federal partners have done to make this possible,” said Barnett.