2023 Quake Alert Triggered in California

On October 18th at 9:29AM in the morning the automatic quake alert system went off. A 4.2M tremor triggered the alert system. According to Insurance Journal: “The tremor triggered a warning from the West Coast`s ShakeAlert system, which detects the start of a quake and sends alerts to smartphones in areas expected to experience shaking.” The article titled M4.2 Earthquake Confirmed in Northern California, Set Off Quake Alert was published October 20th 2023. The article also states that the “quake was centered in the agricultural Isleton area about 32 miles (52 kilometers) southwest of Sacramento…”

This QuakeAlert system is relatively new and has not gone off that many times. The Governor’s office released a statment stating that this had occured as well: “California’s first-in-the-nation Earthquake Early Warning System…provided advanced notification to more than 2.2 million Californians before shaking started for the 5.1 magnitude earthquake that was felt throughout the Bay Area Tuesday.” Additionally “2.1 Million Android Users Received Notifications Because the Technology is Built-In, While 95,000 MyShake App Users Also Received It” However the document also states: “There were no reports of significant damage or injuries related to the earthquake, whose epicenter was in the community of Seven Trees and was felt across large portions of Northern California. “

The underlying technology that sent out alerts can “also [be] used to automate protective actions such as slowing trains, opening firehouse doors, recalling elevators, shutting off water and gas valves as well as closing bridges gates and notifying personnel in school and medical settings.” Which is interesting and very functional. The article does not seem to indicate though if this shake alert actually did do any of these services during this earthquake.

The underlying technology is “based on a computerized program called ShakeAlert, operated by the United States Geological Survey (USGS)…”