Time to make sure your phone will receive Washington’s new ShakeAlert early warnings of an earthquake

Olympia – Washington residents carrying a cell phone in their pockets may receive a short warning, but it may be critical before they sense the next major earthquake.

Earlier this month, Washington joined California and Oregon in using the US Geological Survey’s ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system. The program, in operation since 2006, picks up vibrations from sensors set up across the state and sends alerts to nearby residents seconds before the Earth begins to move. Depending on where they are located near the epicenter, cell phones will receive a warning seconds or tens of seconds before the ground shakes.

Experts say those seconds can give people time to drop, cover and hold and also for some automated systems to close before pipes and other infrastructure break.

Robert de Groot, a scientist with the US Geological Survey, said the system is now operational in all three West Coast states is a “major milestone”.

The best part: Most phones are set up automatically to receive alerts. You don’t even have to register.

Apple devices use the Federal Wireless Emergency Alert System, which is the same system that offers AMBER alerts or tsunami alerts. To check to make sure your iPhone is receiving alerts, go to notification settings, scroll down and turn on Emergency Alerts and Public Safety Alerts.

On the other hand, Android devices use the built-in phone software to deliver alerts. To check if the setting is running, go to site settings, click on “advanced” and turn on “earthquake alerts.”

For more information on checking the two phone types, go to mil.wa.gov/alerts.

“We want people to check and make sure alerts are turned on,” said Maximilian Dickson, supervisor of the Hazards and Outreach Program at the Washington Department of Emergency Management. “But that’s it, you don’t have to download an app.”

Seismographs across the West Coast capture the first waves of an earthquake. Washington currently has 238 stations operated by the University of Washington’s Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. Once the screens have captured the wave, the sensors transmit the location, volume, and rated vibration to the processing center. If the earthquake is above a certain threshold, an alert will be sent to cell phones within seconds of the first wave. For Apple phones, this limit is a 5-magnitude earthquake, and for Android, this threshold is a 4.5-magnitude earthquake.

In addition to automatic alerts, residents of Oregon and California have the opportunity to download a separate app to receive alerts. Apps, as well as Android devices, can send alerts for less powerful earthquakes.

De Groot said they are also providing more information in their notification. The wireless emergency alert message, the system that Apple relies on, often does not include volume information or a countdown of when the vibration occurred.

However, in Washington, these apps are not currently licensed. Dickson said the state has reached out to the developers, who have said they want state funding to work here. Dickson said this request surprised management, and they were unable to make it with the limited funding they already had for the project.

Although it would be nice if everyone had an app they could download as well, not everyone wants to follow the download process, said Gabriel Lotto, ShakeAlert Participation Coordinator at the Pacific Northwest Earthquake Network.

He added that a very small percentage of people in California have an early warning app unlike automatic alerts that are set up in their phones.

Dickson said introducing a statewide early warning app would still be a conversation. If one of them fired at all, he said, the state would want to include tsunami warnings and information. None of the apps previously contacted by the state, he said, offered this.

Officials said that although earthquakes are rare in Spokane, residents should make sure that alerts are turned on their phones.

Many people travel or visit other parts of the state that are at greater risk of earthquakes. For this reason, Dickson said you should make sure that the alerts are turned on.

He said, “You never know where you are going.”

Going forward, the USGS and state partners will continue building seismic sensors with plans to build about 100 additional sensors by 2025.

Lotto said most of the new aircraft will be in central and eastern Washington.

Another part of ShakeAlert is partnering with local schools and utility companies to create automated systems. For example, once it senses an earthquake, a computer system can automatically slow trains, shut off water supply valves and announce an alarm in a school’s PA system.

Lotto said that a few schools and facilities in Washington have started that partnership, but that it is still in its infancy.

The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network will also continue to work on its large-scale earthquake algorithm. So far, de Groot said, officials are only confident of the system’s ability to warn of earthquakes of up to magnitude 8, especially in areas far from the epicenter.

“Regardless of anything, the vibration you feel is a signal to do something,” de Groot said.

Dickson said ShakeAlert is just “one tool in the toolbox.”

Laurel Demkovich’s report for The Spokesman-Review is funded in part by Report for America and by members of the Spokane community. This story may be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this topic, please contact the managing editor of our newspaper.

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