The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has confirmed that Canadian customers in the United States may receive an emergency alert to their phones today as part of a “high-level” alert test from the Trump administration.
The alert may be sent out to Canadian mobile customers on any carrier who are within or near U.S. borders, according to the CRTC.
❗️Reminder: Today, starting at 2:18 pm (EDT), the U.S. @fema will conduct a nationwide emergency #alert test. If you find yourself near the U.S. border, you could receive the test alert on your #mobile, #TV & #radio.
— CRTCeng (@CRTCeng) October 3, 2018
The ‘Presidential Alert’ is scheduled for 11:18am PT/2:18pm ET and will contain the following text:
“THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
This is the first test of a national wireless emergency system by the U.S.’ Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster response organizations. FEMA says it will share the test result data with mobile carriers to ensure the system works well during actual emergencies.
The presidential alert will be broadcast across U.S. cell towers for 30 minutes, so mobile owners may not get the message right away.
Based on rules outlined in 2006 U.S. law, the FEMA alert must relate to a true emergency and cannot contain a personal message from the president.
In May, the CRTC began testing its own mobile emergency alerts across Canada, although there were initial issues in Ontario and Quebec.
Via: 680 News
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