Don’t be alarmed by your alarm on Wednesday

Don’t be alarmed by your alarm at 2:20 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA) announced jointly with the Federal Communications Commission that it would be conducting a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). Messages will be sent to cellphones, TVs and radios.

The purpose of the tests is “to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level,” according to FEMA. The different platforms also aid FEMA’s goal of making these alerts accessible to the entire public, including those with different disabilities.

There are two parts to the test: A WEA portion directed to consumer cellphones and an EAS portion that will be directed to radios and televisions.

Consumers will receive a test message on their phone, reading “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” Phones with the main menu set to Spanish will receive “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.” Devices should only receive the message once.

The EAS test will broadcast a similar message: “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.” It will last for approximately one minute.

The test will be rescheduled to Oct. 11 in the case of widespread severe weather or other significant events.