Could you get an earthquake alert on your phone?

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Oct 24, 2014

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Could you get an earthquake alert on your phone?

Federal and state officials plan to one day send quake alerts to millions of people. But SCPR's Sanden Totten reports they need to address some big challenges before they can pull that off.

Earthquake early warning systems like ShakeAlert work because the warning message can be transmitted almost instantaneously, whereas the shaking waves from the earthquake travel through the shallow layers of the Earth at speeds of one to a few kilometers per second (0.5 to 3 miles per second). This diagram shows how such a system would operate. When an earthquake occurs, both compressional (P) waves and transverse (S) waves radiate outward from the epicenter. The P wave, which travels fastest, trips sensors placed in the landscape, causing alert signals to be sent ahead, giving people and automated electronic systems some time (seconds to minutes) to take precautionary actions before damage can begin with the arrival of the slower but stronger S waves and later-arriving surface waves. Computers and mobile phones receiving the alert message calculate the expected arrival time and intensity of shaking at your location.

Federal and state officials plan to one day send quake alerts to millions of people. But SCPR's Sanden Totten reports they need to address some big challenges before they can pull that off.

It's been two months since a 6.0 earthquake struck Napa County.

Researchers at UC Berkeley were able to get a 10-second heads up before the shaking reached them, thanks to a prototype early warning system.

Of course, the goal isn't to warn just scientists.

Federal and state officials plan to one day send quake alerts to millions of people.

But Southern California Public Radio's Sanden Totten reports they need to address some big challenges before they can pull that off.