Want an Earthquake Warning? There's an App for That

A new earthquake warning system is in place in the city of Los Angeles.

1 minute read

January 5, 2019, 1:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Los Angeles Earthquake

Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock

The Associated Press reports on the details of a new earthquake warning app available to Los Angeles County residents.

The app, called ShakeAlertLA will send an alert that could arrive before, during, or after an earthquake of at least 5.0 magnitude on the Richter scale.

The ShakeAlertLA app is based on a warning system developed by the U.S. Geological Survey. Several cities and agencies around the country already have earthquake warning systems, as do cities in Mexico and Japan, but this is the first time an earthquake warning system is available to the general public in the United States.

For more information on the new app, see also an article by Alissa Walker from August 2018.

Earthquake readiness was a big component of the "Resilient Los Angeles" plan released in March 2018 as a result of funding from the 100 Resilient Cities network, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

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