Damage to the US Post Office building in Napa, California, August 24, 2014, and known as the South Napa earthquake. Matthew Keys, Wikimedia Commons
"Earthquake…. earthquake…" That was the warning to scientists at the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory at 3:20 a.m. Sunday morning, 10 seconds before the 6.0 magnitude temblor along the Napa Fault rattled people and buildings from wine country down to Berkeley and San Francisco. It came from the ShakeAlert system being tested by UC Berkeley, Caltech, the US Geological Survey and other partners.
Richard Allen, the lab's director, wrote in a recent issue of the journal Nature that action taken last fall by Gov. Jerry Brown to create a California earthquake early-warning system should be followed by the United States and other countries, "rather than waiting until the next big quake galvanizes political action" because of loss of life and property.
In October 2013, University of California, Berkeley released the story that follows. Warning, the alert is a loud sound followed by a message.
US should follow California lead on earthquake early warning, expert says.
Although California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill last week to create a statewide earthquake early warning system, the United States is still behind the curve in embracing technology that has proven to save lives, lessen damage and speed recovery after a major quake.
Richard Allen, director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, makes this argument in a commentary in this week's issue of the journal Nature. And he says it's time to institute an early warning system in this country, "rather than waiting until the next big quake galvanizes political action" because of loss of life and property.
Gov. Brown's signing on Sept. 24 was "very exciting news, and something that we have been working toward for more than a decade," said Allen, who is a professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the state's major proponents of an early warning system. "This bill will bring earthquake alerts to everyone in California."
