This Earthquake Early Warning App Sent Alerts to Residents of California

In October this year, a new earthquake warning system, the MyShake app, was created by UC Berkeley. In a recent milestone, the app had sent out its first public alert to the people of California to warn them about a magnitude 4.3 earthquake, earlier this month, in the mountains between the Central Coast and San Joaquin Valley. According to Jennifer Strauss, project manager for the MyShake app, quoted by LA Times, more than 40 people received the warning.

MyShake app, released in October 2019, depends on earthquake information calculated by the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) backbone ShakeAlert system. The system collects earthquake sensing data from a network of hundreds of ground sensors throughout the West Coast. The app is available on both iOS and Android systems. While the quake had a magnitude of 4.3 on the Modified Mercalli scale, the United States Geological Survey data shows estimated it to be 4.8.

The app also tweeted about the achievement and wrote, “Big news! Our first live early earthquake warning alert was sent out for a M4.4 #earthquake in Parkfield, CA (central California).”

In a query supported by a Twitter user, the app developer also clarified that it does not report on any developing tsunamis, as of now.

USGS scientist Robert de Groot told LA Times, “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.”