# Is the emergency alert system ever used for anything besides storms? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2016, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-emergency-alert-system-ever-used-for-anything-besides-storms/747064 "2016-02-25T03:33:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-emergency-alert-system-ever-used-for-anything-besides-storms/747064/1 "2016-02-25T03:33:58Z")
Whenever I hear it, it is almost always for one of three things: 1. A test 2. Thunderstorm 3. Flood IIRC, they also use the EAS to announce blizzard warnings. Is it ever used for non-weather emergencies? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-emergency-alert-system-ever-used-for-anything-besides-storms/747064/2 "2016-02-25T03:46:18Z")
It’s main purpose is to enable the President to communicate to the country within 10 minutes of a national emergency. It’s never been activated, not even on 9/11. It’s also used for severe storms, tornado warnings, and now AMBER alerts. > **[Emergency Alert System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System)** > > The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via cable, satellite and broadcast television and AM, FM and satellite radio. Informally, Emergency Alert System is sometimes conflated with its mobile phone counterpart Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), a different but related system. However, both the EAS and WEA, among other systems, are coordinated under the... > [@](#): > > The number of event types in the national system has grown to eighty. At first, all but three of the events (civil emergency message, immediate evacuation, and emergency action notification [national emergency]) were weather-related (such as a tornado warning). Since then, several classes of non-weather emergencies have been added, including, in most states, the AMBER Alert System for child abduction emergencies. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-emergency-alert-system-ever-used-for-anything-besides-storms/747064/3 "2016-02-25T04:23:46Z")
When the nukes start flying, you can take comfort in hearing Trump’s voice over the EAS before you are vaporized. I just gave myself the wicked creeps. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-emergency-alert-system-ever-used-for-anything-besides-storms/747064/4 "2016-02-25T04:30:15Z")
Didn’t Illinois stop using it for Amber Alerts, at least on phones, when so many people complained about things like being repeatedly awakened for a child abduction hundreds of miles away? I certainly would too. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-emergency-alert-system-ever-used-for-anything-besides-storms/747064/5 "2016-02-25T04:31:22Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > When the nukes start flying, you can take comfort in hearing Trump’s voice over the EAS before you are vaporized. > I just gave myself the wicked creeps. **Mod’s** I apologize for the political jab in GQ. I’m a bit loopy and need to go home where the beer and bed is. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-emergency-alert-system-ever-used-for-anything-besides-storms/747064/6 "2016-02-25T05:18:21Z")
Ohio uses it for amber alerts. I think it’s also used occasionally for things like chemical spills. There’s a list of all the non-weather event codes [here](http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/info/eventcodes.html), and the text of a warning for a chemical fire after a train derailment [here](http://www.talkweather.com/forums/index.php?/topic/47987-stay-in-place-warning/).