As a alumna - nay, survivor - of the "Duck and Cover" era, I still cringe when I hear the sirens calling out local volunteer fire departments.
Do you remember duck and cover?
They still have the tests, of course, They are monthly now, and are just a small inconvenience.
So, I read with interest about today's test. At 2:18 pm Eastern time, (1:18 pm Central, and so on through all the time zones of the United States) FEMA and the FCC will run a test from the Wireless Emergency System that will appear on every smartphone. A similar test will run on all TV stations
The WEA test message will have a header that reads "Presidential Alert" and text that says:
“THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
Yes, it's only a test. This system will permit the President to contact our population in case of an emergency situation. Although....
Let's take a short trip down memory lane, to earlier this year, when a "this is not a drill" alert created 38 minutes of panic in Hawaii. Few in Hawaii will ever forget January 13, 2018.
So, let's think about this a minute.
What if there really was a national emergency such as a missile launch against our country? Or, a hacker gets hold of the system?
The one good thing about the "Duck and Cover" era (and you are welcome to watch the entire movie above) is that people were encouraged to be prepared. Maybe it wasn't in the right way, but we had a system of public fallout shelters, and a system of various types of sirens for both natural and man-made disasters.
We still have a system of warning sirens, but not that many of us know about it. Ironically, the people of Hawaii do.
And, when I lived in Kansas years ago, we did have tornado sirens and TV stations had a special symbol in the bottom right of the screen when a tornado watch was in effect.
So, it's nice that we will have this modern warning system - but then what?
One day, it may not be a joke. How many of us would know what to do? Do I? Would you?
Day 3 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost
Enjoyed reading today's blog! I was born in 1982, so I missed out on Duck and Cover drills while in school, thankfully. However, living close to several chemical plants, we had several frightening shelter-in-place drills...and one actual shelter-in-place while I was in middle school. I'll never forget sitting in that dark, hot hallway until 7pm, thinking that these were the people I was going to die with, lol.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed emotions about this. I’ve had my phone go off unexpectedly for amber alerts, and for other local emergencies. With everyone glued to their cell phones these days, it’s an effective way to spread the word.
ReplyDeleteBut to give such power to the Tweeter in Chief is Orwellian.
This is totally interesting and a bit scary. Thank you for the info!!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all- I refused to participate in the duck and cover stupidity.. (Hiding under a desk to save ourselves from a nuclear attack... And, you expect me to learn something from YOU????). And, our introduction to the BEEEEP was a somber sounding voice, no upbeat or inane musical intro.
ReplyDeleteBut, I admit to confusion when I moved to Ann Arbor a decade or two later and the air-raid siren went off. I was trying to figure out if the Russians really were attacking- until someone yelled at me to get under cover- there's a tornado on the way.
These films were just ahead of my time but I've seen them. Even without that scary memory, whenever I hear a siren, my heart skips a beat and I mentally try to tally where all my family members are. I can only imagine the terrors of an era when this was common practice. Certainly best to be prepared!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately we need these tests but most of us have become complacent
ReplyDeleteabout them.
One of my favorite things to do is to go out to YouTube and watch old EBS tests. They scared the daylights out of me when I was a kid (and I wasn't the only one), now I watch them for nostalgia's sake.
ReplyDeleteSome folks have actually found the prerecorded "white card" (attack is possible) and "red card" (attack is imminent) messages and put them out on YouTube. Here's WGN's "white card": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TTEWRKnRC0
Our PBS station still does a weekly check during the kids programming. And if there is ever a tornado on the first Saturday of the month at 1:00, we are SOL, cause that is when they test the sirens and we all ignore them. Still remember hiding under my desk in school.
ReplyDeleteI heard about the test today but it did not show up for me for some odd reason. But it's always good to be prepared.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting to think about. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI used to use the text of "this is only a test" whenever I was testing out something. I've typed it out many times. But when we duck and covered, it was an earthquake drill. (We still do them around these parts. Come and earthquake, the kiddos don't get under their desks, though. And yes, I know this first hand.)
ReplyDeleteWhen that alert went off today, it was in the middle of class. And several student phones blared the alert. (Mine was on silent and locked in the teacher's office.) At first we thought it was an Amber Alert.
I remember them when I was a youngster but I didn't hear anything about it today. Maybe I was just too busy! :)
ReplyDeleteI only experienced Duck and Cover once, and I was in first grade. I didn't mind doing it because I liked the idea of hiding under the desk. Of course, being six years old, I didn't understand what it was about. Later, I thought that it didn't make any sense. But... today... yep, I got the alert. My phone made this horrible screechy sound. It was just a test. It was still a horrible screechy sound.
ReplyDeleteAlana,
ReplyDeleteI got that test this week and it nearly made me jump out of my skin. I had no clue that it was set to happen. I thought it was some weird kind of spam text until I asked DH. Maybe, I should read the news more often. :) Yes, the old systems did push preparedness. Honestly, that's the best any of us can do because you know if we get hit by some major event then many aren't going to make it to a shelter for safety. I just make sure I have plenty of hammers and screw drivers on hand in the event of a zombie apocalypse. lol Bullets work, too. But, whose gonna make the bullets after the bullet makers turn into zombies? Now, you understand why the need for my anti-zombie deterrents. These things work very well on TWD series. :)