The California Earthquake Early Warning Program is excited to announce a test of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system to distribute earthquake alerts, also known as ShakeAlerts.
Today at 11:00 a.m. in Downtown Oakland, the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), in partnership with the City of Oakland and Alameda County, will conduct a test for distributing these alerts through the WEA system. WEA (Wireless Emergency Alert) warnings are emergency messages sent to your mobile device by an authorized government agency. The government uses WEA alerts to deliver messages like AMBER Alerts and severe weather alerts to your cell phone. WEA messages include a special tone and vibration both repeated twice. Messages are sent to a defined geographical area that is affected by the emergency. For this test an area in Downtown Oakland west of Lake Merritt has been defined. Because of Emeryville’s proximity to the test area, it is likely that wireless phones in the City will receive the alert.
TEST INFORMATION
Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Message: “TEST of the CA Earthquake Warning System. No action required. THIS IS A TEST.”
Location: Downtown Oakland west of Lake Merritt