Los Angeles County residents will have an easier time preparing for an earthquake thanks to a new app. The name of the app is ShakeAlertLA. It will give a warning when shaking starts. It is available on the Android and IOS devices.
The U.S. Geological Survey and the city of Los Angeles teamed up to create the app. People have talked about the app on Twitter. One user stated that they hope that the app will work.
The only time that users will receive a notification is if the earthquake is at least 5.0 magnitude. It will tell people whether they should expect weak, moderate or strong shaking. It will tell people that they should drop, cover or hold on. Additionally, it will tell people that they need to protect themselves.
The creators of the ShakeAlertLA app warned people that it is not perfect. It told people that they may get their warnings a little late. It may also send out false warnings. The U.S. Geological Survey has been working on the app since 2006. Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles already had an alert system that sent out notifications when an earthquake was on the horizon. However, the systems did not send out public alerts.
There are hundreds of seisomometers located along the fault lines in Oregon, Washington and California. The system measures the magnitude and location of the earthquake. It will then send out an alert before the earthquake can do any more damage.
Many people have expressed concern about the app because they do not know if it will be accurate. However, others are happy to have it. One user expressed relief. They stated that they are happy to have the app. They also stated that they hope that they will not have to use the app anytime soon.
