It also provides general hurricane safety tips, especially for the elderly and children. The Emergency Alert System was originally designed for the President to communicate with the public in the event of a national emergency. One advantage of EAS over the older EBS is that this system is virtually automatic and can be operated unattended. Initially, it can be programmed to transmit specific warnings in certain locations. Pre-programmed messages help speed activation time during an actual crisis.
Testing is done on a weekly and monthly basis, but is less intrusive than before.
Local level volunteers have the authority to activate EAS and decide when a test takes place. Testing lasts only 8 seconds, emitting digital sounds that are less likely to be ignored by viewers. The redundancy of specific warnings further ensures EAS will be recognized in the event of a crisis. EAS can signal consumer products, such as televisions, car radios, and even pagers, to receive EAS alert and warning. In addition, EAS will now reach people whose first language is not English by broadcasting on Spanish programming networks.