If you get a text message from a strange number tomorrow, accompanied by a strange noise and the words, "extreme alert," don't be alarmed: The New York City Office of Emergency Management and FEMA will be conducting a test of the Wireless Emergency Alert System. And hopefully it'll go better than it did in New Jersey on Monday, when a similar "emergency alert" freaked out thousands of people.
Tomorrow's message will be sent to mobile phones around NYC including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon customers sometime between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. FEMA warns that the messages may be accompanied by audible alerts regardless of the user’s ring tone or volume settings, which is an off-putting feature in and of itself. The actual text will read either “Severe Alert” or “Extreme Alert.” Users will see the following test alert when they open the WEA message: “This is a test from NYC Office of Emergency Mgmt. Test Message 1. This is only a test.”
New Jersey did all that on Monday, except they forgot to label it clearly as a test. Verizon customers in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties received the "Civil Alert" message, and were told to "take shelter before 1:24 p.m." Hundreds of people flooded 911 call centers—even New Jersey State Police sounded unprepared for the test.
The point is, you don't want to be unprepared like NJ was. So now would be a good time to change your former sexting buddy's name in your phone to something besides "severe alert."
