America gets first public earthquake early warning app

Proof if ever you needed it that app development can lead to some truly revolutionary creations – developers in America have launched the first ever public earthquake early warning app. The app was created by the Mayor of LA’s office in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey.

The app, ShakeAlertLA has launched in Los Angeles, California today and uses cutting-edge mobile app technology to warn residents in LA county if an earthquake measuring 5.0 or higher on the Richter Scale is imminent, as detected by the US Geological Survey’s early warning sensor network .

ShakeAlertLA is being run as a pilot program with other cities, such as San Francisco which sits between the two notorious fault lines of San Andreas and Hayward, known to be watching closely.

As well as being the first of its kind, what makes the development of ShakeAlertLA so compelling is the fact that an app-based system is being trialled following the failure of an SMS alert system which was attempted three years ago.

A Presidential Alert was also trialled a few months ago but some recipients reported a 15 second delay in the message coming through. While that may seem like a marginal lag, 15 seconds could be the difference between life and death when it comes to taking shelter from a quake.

Richard Allen who is the director of the Seismological Laboratory at Berkeley University says that both the SMS system and the Presidential Alert were simply too slow to be effective as public early warning systems, especially in places such as LA and San Francisco where proximity to fault lines mean there is little time to spare between an early warning being sounded and the quake actually hitting.

Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti issued a statement welcoming the app, saying “Angelenos should have every chance to protect themselves and their families when there’s a major earthquake. We created the ShakeAlertLA app because getting a few seconds’ heads-up can make a big difference if you need to pull to the side of the road, get out of an elevator, or drop, cover, and hold on..” He also noted that the ShakeAlertLA app is a “…a crucial step towards delivering ShakeAlerts to the entire West Coast.”

As well as issuing the pre-earthquake alert for earthquakes 5.0 or larger, the app includes a map of recent earthquake locations and provides preparation advice along with resources for accessing help after an earthquake has struck.

The app is available in English and Spanish and for both Android and iOS.