Mobile phones in San Diego County will all go off at 11am Thursday to test an alert that is part of an early warning system for earthquakes.
The test is being conducted by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services.
ShakeAlert has been in development in the state of California since 2006 with hundreds of sensors in the ground. There are 45 seismic censors in the county.
In the event of an earthquake, the sensors would detect the earliest waves allowing officials to send out an alert to residents, warning them to prepare for more shaking.
The warning would provide precious seconds of notice to allow residents to take cover, drivers to pull off the road, hospitals to pause surgeries and eventually trigger automated systems.
During Thursday's test, all mobile phones in the county, including those registered to non-residents will go off with a tone and text message. The message will be clear that it is only a test. However, Holly Porter, Director of the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services says when the phones go off, it's a good opportunity for people to take stock of their surroundings and think about what action they would take in the event of a real quake.
The test will allow officials to determine how effective the mobile platform would be to alert residents according to Porter.
Watch the video below to see how ShakeAlert works.
Photo Credit: Jack C