California’s earthquake warning system sent alerts to more than 1 million people before the 5.6-magnitude quake that struck in a rural area of Northern California on Wednesday morning, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.The quake centered near Willits in Mendocino County was the strongest to hit the area since 1940, The Associated Press reported. It was felt across Northern California, including in Sacramento.Videos shared with KCRA 3 showed items tossed off shelves at shops and homes across the region. The earthquake also knocked out power to thousands of PG&E customers and caused some injuries but no major damage, officials said. As of Thursday morning, power appeared to have been restored across Mendocino County, according to PG&E’s outage map.The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said nearly 657,000 early warning alerts were sent out via the free MyShake App. Other early warning systems in the state’s emergency preparedness toolkit include Android earthquake alerts and wireless emergency alerts. Newsom said in a statement that the alerts gave Californians “vital seconds to drop, cover, and hold on.” “As we say, it’s not a matter of if, but when the next earthquake will occur,” he said in a statement. “I encourage all Californians to download the MyShake app and allow emergency alerts on their cell phones to receive these timely notifications.” What is the MyShake app?California was the first state to launch earthquake warning alerts, with MyShake unveiled in 2019.The app was developed by the UC Berkeley Seismology Lab in partnership with USGS Shake Alert and is funded by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. It offers alerts for quakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater not only in California, but also Oregon and Washington. The alerts are sent several seconds after an earthquake is detected and most users typically get a few seconds of early warning before feeling shaking. People far from the quake may get 30 seconds or more of early warning. The stronger the earthquake, the wider the radius is for triggering alerts to users’ cellphones. Users can share their own experience and see damage and shaking reports submitted by other community members. The app is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Filipino, Korean and Vietnamese. It can be found on the Apple app and Google Play store. According to the governor’s office, the app hit 4.5 million downloads just this week. It has delivered more than 6.8 million alerts in response to 194 earthquakes so far. Video shows boater on Clear Lake getting an alert moments before the earthquake Among the videos of the quake shared with KCRA 3 was footage of a fisherman receiving an early warning while standing on a boat in Clear Lake. Warning sounds can be heard several seconds before the quake’s shaking is visible on the water. Watch in the video above. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel | Make KCRA a preferred news source in Google
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
California’s earthquake warning system sent alerts to more than 1 million people before the 5.6-magnitude quake that struck in a rural area of Northern California on Wednesday morning, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
The quake centered near Willits in Mendocino County was the strongest to hit the area since 1940, The Associated Press reported. It was felt across Northern California, including in Sacramento.
Videos shared with KCRA 3 showed items tossed off shelves at shops and homes across the region.
The earthquake also knocked out power to thousands of PG&E customers and caused some injuries but no major damage, officials said. As of Thursday morning, power appeared to have been restored across Mendocino County, according to PG&E’s outage map.
The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said nearly 657,000 early warning alerts were sent out via the free MyShake App. Other early warning systems in the state’s emergency preparedness toolkit include Android earthquake alerts and wireless emergency alerts.
Newsom said in a statement that the alerts gave Californians “vital seconds to drop, cover, and hold on.”
“As we say, it’s not a matter of if, but when the next earthquake will occur,” he said in a statement. “I encourage all Californians to download the MyShake app and allow emergency alerts on their cell phones to receive these timely notifications.”
What is the MyShake app?
California was the first state to launch earthquake warning alerts, with MyShake unveiled in 2019.
The app was developed by the UC Berkeley Seismology Lab in partnership with USGS Shake Alert and is funded by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. It offers alerts for quakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater not only in California, but also Oregon and Washington.
The alerts are sent several seconds after an earthquake is detected and most users typically get a few seconds of early warning before feeling shaking. People far from the quake may get 30 seconds or more of early warning.
The stronger the earthquake, the wider the radius is for triggering alerts to users’ cellphones.
Users can share their own experience and see damage and shaking reports submitted by other community members.
The app is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Filipino, Korean and Vietnamese. It can be found on the Apple app and Google Play store.
According to the governor’s office, the app hit 4.5 million downloads just this week. It has delivered more than 6.8 million alerts in response to 194 earthquakes so far.
Video shows boater on Clear Lake getting an alert moments before the earthquake
Among the videos of the quake shared with KCRA 3 was footage of a fisherman receiving an early warning while standing on a boat in Clear Lake.
Warning sounds can be heard several seconds before the quake’s shaking is visible on the water.
Watch in the video above.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel | Make KCRA a preferred news source in Google