“Some cellphones received only a text message, others buzzed and beeped. Some people got more than one alert. It’s the Wireless Emergency Alert program, a cellphone version of the Emergency Alert System on your television. Cellphone owners receive messages automatically, based on their proximity to the emergency, not based on their phone number. ‘If you’re from Texas and that’s where your phone number is based and you’re traveling in California at the time of the Amber Alert, you’ll receive the text message about the Amber Alert in California on your Texas-based phone,’ said CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader.”
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2013/08/creepy-state-of-california-pokes-my.html
