HANNIBAL, MO — Concerns regarding the possible alarm that might be generated by Wednesday afternoon’s first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System apparently were for naught, at least locally. Marion County 911, Hannibal police and fire report receiving zero calls from the public regarding the 1 p.m. test which cut in on television and radio programs.

“We have had zero calls. No calls at all. Not one,” said Grace Wells, a dispatch supervisor with Marion County 911 around 1:30 p.m.

Wells admits she wasn’t expecting to be swamped with phone calls.

“Maybe I expected one or two from people who had never seen this before. But I’m not too surprised,” she said. “It (the test) wasn’t very grandiose. It was pretty clear cut when it came on the television that that is what it was. I don’t even think it was any different from the state test, so I don’t think people thought that much of it. Maybe the prior media coverage made them aware of it. That’s what I would attribute it to.”

Test problems

While the EAS test apparently went off without a glitch locally, such was not the case elsewhere. The scheduled 30-second test lasted four minutes in at least one area. Problems were reported in Orgeon and Alabama.

On the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s blog, Damon Penn, assistant administrator of national continuity programs, wrote that initial results from Wednesday’s test will be collected. He indicated it will take “several weeks” to gather all the information.

“It was our opportunity to get a sense of what worked, what didn’t and additional improvements that need to be made to the system as we move forward,” wrote Penn.

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