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FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4, 2023

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Re: FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4, 2023

#11
post #10
post #7

We had the same all the way out here in India. Wonder what do these governments know in order to coordinate like this.

In germany we now have a "Warntag" [literally "Warn day"], which is scheduled to be once per Year in September. This is mostly a result of a previous test, which revealed that in case of a catastrophe, most germans would not be warned (Sirens not functioning, cell broadcast was not used, ...) Sadly the website of our Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance is not translating every page to english.…

In the Netherlands we test the systems every first monday of the month.

Re: FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4, 2023

#12
post #11
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In germany we now have a "Warntag" [literally "Warn day"], which is scheduled to be once per Year in September. This is mostly a result of a previous test, which revealed that in case of a catastrophe, most germans would not be warned (Sirens not functioning, cell broadcast was not used, ...) Sadly the website of our Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance is not translating every page to english.…

In the Netherlands we test the systems every first monday of the month.

Also the alert on your mobile phone?

Re: FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4, 2023

#13

I wonder how this works technically? and to what extent it taxes the bandwidth of the system / backhaul / towers / channels? Is it: Cell tower: "Every phone currently connected to this tower -- display this message now " or Cell tower: "subscriber 202-555-1212 known to be connected to this tower, display this message now " , "subscriber 202-555-1213 known to be connected to this tower, display this message now ", etc…

Fun tidbit, the UK until this year didn’t have a cellular broadcast system. During the pandemic the government worked with each mobile provider individually to deliver notices to every subscriber [0].

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Emergency_Alert_System#Coro...

Re: FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4, 2023

#14
post #10
post #7

We had the same all the way out here in India. Wonder what do these governments know in order to coordinate like this.

In germany we now have a "Warntag" [literally "Warn day"], which is scheduled to be once per Year in September. This is mostly a result of a previous test, which revealed that in case of a catastrophe, most germans would not be warned (Sirens not functioning, cell broadcast was not used, ...) Sadly the website of our Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance is not translating every page to english.…

BC is similar [0], though it’s twice a year.

[0] - https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/public-safety/emer...

Re: FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4, 2023

#17
Funny FEMA should just now come up, I just now spent some time considering FEMA!

It is very surprising to me that much emergency infrastructure exists, without providing very basic things to households like regionally relevant emergency kits and something like one month of MRE + Water. Rather than it sitting in some warehouse... because distribution becomes a very immediate problem.

Not forced but, offered to anyone who needs it and to be made aware of it.

Seems like that would be a win considering how much they spend per year - almost $100 USD/yr per US citizen. Freaking 30B USD.

Re: FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4, 2023

#18
post #12
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the Netherlands we test the systems every first monday of the month.

Also the alert on your mobile phone?

Seems the mobile version, NL-Alert, triggers first monday of every quarter

Re: FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4, 2023

#19
post #10
post #7

We had the same all the way out here in India. Wonder what do these governments know in order to coordinate like this.

In germany we now have a "Warntag" [literally "Warn day"], which is scheduled to be once per Year in September. This is mostly a result of a previous test, which revealed that in case of a catastrophe, most germans would not be warned (Sirens not functioning, cell broadcast was not used, ...) Sadly the website of our Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance is not translating every page to english.…

>This is mostly a result of a previous test, which revealed that in case of a catastrophe, most germans would not be warned (Sirens not functioning, cell broadcast was not used, ...)

And failed yearly tests being ignored. It took the Ahr flood to actually do something about that.

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/katastrophensc...

Re: FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4, 2023

#20

Funny FEMA should just now come up, I just now spent some time considering FEMA! It is very surprising to me that much emergency infrastructure exists, without providing very basic things to households like regionally relevant emergency kits and something like one month of MRE + Water. Rather than it sitting in some warehouse... because distribution becomes a very immediate problem. Not forced but, offered to anyone…

I suspect that if you distributed emergency supplies ahead of time, some people would treat it as a convenient handout and simply consume them.

And even aside from the temptation to use the supplies, not everyone would be able to find a place to store a month of rations & water.

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