People from inland San Diego County to the Los Angeles County coast felt the earth move beneath them Monday morning when a magnitude-5.2 earthquake struck San Diego County.
And, many received alerts on their mobile devices.
Earthquake alert programs can give upwards of 10 seconds of warning before the heaviest shaking occurs.
Here in California, the ‘MyShake App’, ‘Android Earthquake Alerts’, and ‘Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs)’ are recommended by the state to give residents the most amount of time to prepare.
Here’s how they work.
Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs)
WEA is a nationwide emergency system used in times of emergency to send concise, text-like messages in English and Spanish to mobile devices.
WEAs can be sent by your state and local public safety officials, the National Weather Service, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the President of the United States.
‘Amber Alerts’ for example, are just one form of WEAs.
MyShake App
After downloading the app, ‘MyShake’ will send mobile alerts that shaking is about to occur.
The system utilizes ground-motion sensors to detect earthquakes that have already started and estimates their size, location, and impact. When it detects a significant magnitude, the system issues a warning.
Notifications can be issued in English, Spanish, Chinese Traditional, Tagalog, Korean, and Vietnamese.
A phone’s location must be shared with the application for it to function properly.
Android Alerts
A pre-installed feature in all Android devices, ‘Android Alerts’ is an earthquake detection and warning system co-developed by Google.
The program uses the same data to distribute warnings as Earthquake Warning California – the state’s Earthquake Early Warning System.
The system also uses your phone’s general location to determine who receives an alert.
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