California App Users Received First-Ever Alert From Earthquake Warning App

An earthquake warning app developed by UC Berkeley earlier delivered its first-ever alert to its users in California after its release in Oct. 2019. A 4.3 magnitude quake triggered MyShake app Tuesday in the mountains between the San Joaquin Valley and the central coast, reports The Los Angeles Times. Over 40 people received the first-ever earthquake alert, says Jennifer Strauss, the Project Manager of MyShake App.

Despite the advancement in technology, it is still a great challenge to precisely predict the occurrence of an earthquake, thus the lack of reliable earthquake warning app. With MyShake, it functions by sending an alert to users about a quake that is already underway. The concept is that by detecting the quake near its epicenter, people will get a warning a few seconds earlier before it reaches towns and cities.

MyShake app is crafted to immediately gather data from seismic sensors and deploy warnings to possibly affected areas. Warnings are sent if the magnitude of a quake is 4.5 or greater or if the anticipated shaking at a certain location is at a particular intensity level. The recent quake’s center is in the rural Cholame Valley and was also experienced in the city of Paso Robles, which is over 20 miles away.

While a few seconds might not sound much, with an earthquake, it is enough to make a difference, the university says.

Such systems can work particularly well in strong earthquakes, providing seconds of alert that allow dentists to remove drills from mouths, elevators to let passengers off and allow people to drop, cover and hold on before strong shaking hits.

In addition to the MyShake app, the city of Los Angeles has its very own version of an earthquake warning app called ShakeAlertLA. The app was developed by AT&T and sends warnings to users that are physically in LA County. MyShake app, on the other hand, covers entire California.

Both early warning earthquake apps activate for 4.5 magnitude or greater earthquakes. Both apps alert people in locations where shaking would be strong enough to be noticeable. Moreover, both apps are available for free at the App Store.