History Main / EmergencyBroadcast

Japan: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_8ZkBXVvMw The Emergency Warning System]] is used primarily as a very short-fuse warning on earthquakes (e.g. 10 seconds or so between warning and quake at best) and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTBzHak-4mY to warn for imminent evacuation due to tsunamis]]. The tone will almost immediately be followed up with a broadcast from the NHK in both Japanese and English audio or subtitles. The more bells/more urgent the tone, the more urgent or severe the threat is, and its use is reserved for imminent danger and national tragedies.

Also, the Japanese test signal is not entirely standardized across broadcasting stations (even stations within a given city like will differ; examples abound on YouTube) except for the emergency chime, a video/audio description of when a real broadcast would be activated, an emergency tone, and a notification in Japanese that the audible "brrr-brrr-brrr" tone (not the bells mentioned above) is only audible on analog TVs, with an additional device required after the digital transition due to it being a data signal to digital TVs.

** One VERY effective YouTube original horror creation is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWt4Di6zr14 this.]] It's basically the use of the NOAA weather radio emergency tone, civil defense sirens, and some very convincing voiceover work to create a very convincing EmergencyBroadcast of a [[TheDeadliestMushroom nuclear attack]]. This *is* basically how it would happen if an attack wasn't a surprise.

In the United States, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System Emergency Alert System]] is usually activated locally for tests and missing children/Amber Alerts. Tornado and severe thunderstorm/ [[KillItWithWater flash flood]] warnings are also common reasons for activations. Less commonly, [[KillItWithFire fires]], [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom tsunamis]], chemical spills or other local disasters can result in an activation. State and especially national activations are usually reserved for [[AtomicHate nuclear]] [[NukeEm attack]] or any other [[ApocalypseHow apocalyptic-level]] threat. Many times these alerts then redirect to an area's local NOAA Weather Radio station, where an automated voice reports the event's details.

* AeonEntelechyEvangelion features an EmergencyBroadcast broadcast in English and Nazzadi languages.

[[folder:NewMedia]]
* YouTube is full of uploads of EBS/EAS tests (as well as those for other systems outside the US.) There are also clips where the sound is used as a screamer, as well as plenty of parodies, remixes, mockups, and YouTubePoop.

Czech Republic: Alarm sirens are tested the first Wednesday each month, at noon. They are accompanied by voice message announcing that it's just a test, but especially if you are in a building the only thing you hear is the sirens' wailing,

All TV and radio stations are required to test their EBS systems at least once a year. Of course these tests always warn that there's no actual emergency going on first. This has resulted in the phrase "This is a test. This is only a test" having entered into popular culture. As has the annoying sound that follows it: "EEEEEEEEEEEE", though this has mostly been replaced with a screech which resembles that of a modem dialing into {{AOL}} followed by the long tone. Interestingly, the screech that resembles a modem is actually an encoded two-tone ASCII string repeated 3 times that identifies the exact type and magnitude of the alert and its location, and some weather radios can be programmed to only activate the alarm for alerts that apply to where the radio's installed and only for hazards that would actually be of concern to the area (ignoring flood warnings if it's in a building on very high ground for example). However some stations don't even have an announcer doing a pre-warning any longer, squashing a test within a commercial break without any warning and treating it in the same way as a PublicServiceAnnouncement.

Czech Republic: Alarm sirens are tested the first Wednesday each month, at noon. They are accompanied by voice message announcing that it's just a test, but especially if you are in a building the only think you hear is the sirens' wailing,

Australia: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM4gPCLzLO8 The Standard Emergency Warning Signal]], used primarily in Queensland to warn of cyclones, but now possibly being expanded for bushfires and terror threats in the rest of the country. Possibly, along with Japan's EWS, one of the few EmergencyBroadcast systems to originally be developed specifically for a weather hazard rather than AtomicHate.

* Used dramatically in the MadeForTelevision movie ''[=~Without Warning: Fire From the Sky~=]'', which interrupts the opening of another, ostensibly unrelated TV movie to inform the viewer that a meteor is headed towards Earth.

United Kingdom: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_minute_warning The Four-Minute Warning]], an emergency broadcast ''only'' to be used in the case of AtomicHate. Weather warnings and other emergency messages are done through news special reports.

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[[caption-width-right:500:OhCrap! DeathFromAbove!]]

All TV and radio stations are required to test their EBS systems at least once a year. Of course these tests always warn that there's no actual emergency going on first. This has resulted in the phrase "This is a test. This is only a test" having entered into popular culture. As has the annoying sound that follows it: "EEEEEEEEEEEE", though this has mostly been replaced with a screech which resembles that of a modem dialing into {{AOL}} followed by the long tone. However some stations don't even have an announcer doing a pre-warning any longer, squashing a test within a commercial break without any warning and treating it in the same way as a PublicServiceAnnouncement.

* Is played with in the ''Emergency(PC)'' series, as you are the ones who has to clean up the mess then.

* Is played with in the ''Emergency(PC)'' series, as you are the ones who has to clean up the mess then.

* Is played with in the ''{{Emergency (PC)}}'' series, as you are the ones who has to clean up the mess then.

* Is played with in the ''{{Emergency}}'' series, as you are the ones who has to clean up the mess then.

* Is played with in the ''Emergency'' series, as you are the ones who has to clean up the mess then.