Seconds Before a 6.2 Earthquake Rattled California, Phones Got a Vital Warning (theguardian.com) 32
In the moments before a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck the northern California coast on Monday, roughly half a million phones began to buzz. From a report: An early-alert system managed by the US Geological Survey sent warnings out before the ground started to shake, giving residents in the sparsely populated area vital time to take cover. The earthquake brought significant shaking but minimal damage in Humboldt county, about 210 miles north-west of San Francisco, and officials said it was an excellent test of the alert-system. It was the largest magnitude quake that's occurred since the system, known as ShakeAlert, was officially rolled out across the west coast. "We got some reports from folks that they got up to 10 seconds' warning before they felt shaking. That's pretty darn good," said Robert de Groot, a ShakeAlert coordinator with the USGS.
ShakeAlert issues warnings through a series of agencies and apps including the MyShakeApp, public wireless emergency alert systems, and the Android operating system, powered by Google. A data package is created from information provided by USGS sensors and -- within seconds -- shows up on phones. Some apps that provide alerts are available to download but even some who didn't have an app on their phone were notified. Affected individuals are instructed to drop, cover, and hold on. Having extra seconds to do so can save lives. This event provided an opportunity for the scientists and system operators to test and improve ShakeAlert so it will be even better when the next big earthquake strikes. "We can run as many simulations and tests as possible but we are really going to learn the most from real earthquakes," de Groot said. "It's giving us the chance to use the system and learn how to do a better job of alerting people."
ShakeAlert issues warnings through a series of agencies and apps including the MyShakeApp, public wireless emergency alert systems, and the Android operating system, powered by Google. A data package is created from information provided by USGS sensors and -- within seconds -- shows up on phones. Some apps that provide alerts are available to download but even some who didn't have an app on their phone were notified. Affected individuals are instructed to drop, cover, and hold on. Having extra seconds to do so can save lives. This event provided an opportunity for the scientists and system operators to test and improve ShakeAlert so it will be even better when the next big earthquake strikes. "We can run as many simulations and tests as possible but we are really going to learn the most from real earthquakes," de Groot said. "It's giving us the chance to use the system and learn how to do a better job of alerting people."
It's a conspiracy! (Score:5, Funny)
*I* think someone made millions of phone vibrate, thereby triggering the earthquake!
10 seconds (Score:1, Insightful)
10 seconds is enough time to stop on the freeway.
So, if half of the drivers get the alert, and come to an unexpected stop, how will the other drivers react?
Re: (Score:1)
I see this about every day on the 101. Construction barrel, alligator, wreck, whatever. If a large portion of other drivers slow down or stop, it's probably a good idea to stop as well and figure out what is going on.
Re:10 seconds (Score:5, Interesting)
This happens all the time on the CA freeways: massive number of cars unexpectedly slow down for stuff only they can see. The bumper-to-bumper traffic in many CA cities is tighter than anywhere else I've traveled in the world, and yet CA drivers regularly demonstrate amazing (to me) reaction times. I had a semitruck jackknife in front of me when its tires blew, laying it down across two lanes of traffic at rush hour. Somehow everyone managed to divert onto other lanes or shoulders, and an entire freeway behind us came to a near instant stop... no other collisions. It might not be safe to have half the drivers panic and hit the brakes, but it is safer than continuing to drive if the ground under the cars is about to start shaking violently.
Re: (Score:3)
10 Sec isn't enough time to stop unless you want to get rear-ended by some guy watching his youtube vids while driving.
Re: (Score:2)
10 Sec isn't enough time to stop unless you want to get rear-ended by some guy watching his youtube vids while driving.
Or playing video games [cnn.com].
Re: 10 seconds (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
10 seconds is enough time to stop on the freeway.
So, if half of the drivers get the alert, and come to an unexpected stop, how will the other drivers react?
Assuming that they are under control of their vehicles as required by law, they will either figure that other people are pulling off the highway for a reason, or decide everyone but them is an idiot, and use their smarts to drive off the bridge or whatever else happens.
Re:10 seconds (Score:4, Interesting)
> 10 seconds is enough time to stop on the freeway.
Is this an audio alert? Was it 10 seconds until the alert started or ended?
If it's a text message ten seconds is ~= zero seconds.
Driving + Reading Phone is a crime! (Score:2)
Even if not driving, 6 seconds is not enough time to reach for phone, open, read, process, decide what to do ... too late.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but if the amber alerts are any indication, it will give off a unique tone, so they don't even need to pick up the phone.
Re: (Score:2)
Does this assume that people read a push notification within 10 seconds? Or does it alert as a tone that everyone just "knows"? (Or a voice that can take seconds to announce?)
Humboldt meant 'good' vibes (Score:2)
back in the day, stuff from Humboldt was synonymous with high quality (hehe)
wish I could remember all the good times I had enjoying the fruits of Humboldt; in a way, that proves I even *had* good times lol
and back on topic... good to hear some good uses of science instead of all the negative we hear about; it's easy to forget that we live in the best of times since the beginning of humanity
Re: (Score:2)
It's still up there but now it's taxed.
Valuable service (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
It can give enough time to get off a work ladder, or get out of the Costco aisle, or activate process containment, or sound a warehouse alarm to get out of the way of wine bottles, or open fire station doors.
This. - a lot of lives can be saved if people have some chance to get out of a building. We don't have many here in PA, but an earthquake in Virginia hit us some years back. The wife and I were sitting on the patio, and the pergola suddenly became a trapezoid, Our ceiling in the living room cracked as our fireplace chimney disconnected from the house. Much stronger, and there could have been life altering damage.
10 seconds would allow us to get out into the yard and relative safety.
Re: (Score:1)
If you get a push notification, do you read within 5 seconds of it arriving?
Re: (Score:2)
If you get a push notification, do you read within 5 seconds of it arriving?
I would think it would have a distinctive chime that I'd know to respond immediately.
Re: (Score:2)
How does the average person know what that distinctive chime means? And if people's ears got trained to the sound, advertisers could take advantage of it.
Re: (Score:2)
How does the average person know what that distinctive chime means? And if people's ears got trained to the sound, advertisers could take advantage of it.
A few years back, we had an extraordinary rainstorm event in the middle of winter. Middle of the night. A lot of flooding occurred The phone woke me up out of a nice slumber, as my SO's phone and mine went off at the same time. No one would ever not know something bad was happening.
I had no idea that a smartphone could screech so loudly. Startled the crap out of me. They can override the phone settings in an emergency. And of course, it isn't perfect. But seems that most people would want an alert like t
Long enough to set up live streaming? (Score:3)
It isn't worth it if you can't get your earthquake video posted quickly.
White list it on iPhone (Score:2)
The alert won't do you much good if your phone blocks notifications when you're asleep or focusing on work.
Fortunately you can tell your iPhone to let Shake Alert notify you at any time by enabling "Critical Alert" in the app's notifications settings pane.
I've only had the alert go off once so far. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it turned out to be over blown as the triggering quake was a mag 4 quite some distance from me so the very mild shaking lasted less than a second.
I got the alert, 180 miles away (Score:3)
I got the alert, but it was way too far away for me to feel. Did they buzz the entire state?
Kinda like crying wolf, if the alerts aren't relevant, they'll be ignored.
+1 (Score:2)
too many non-relevant alerts or out-of-area alerts
Obligatory xkcd (Score:2)
TornadoGuard [xkcd.com]
(Yes, earthquakes and tornadoes aren't the same thing, but it's close enough.)
Obligatory XKCD (Score:2)
https://xkcd.com/723/ [xkcd.com]
Re: (Score:2)