Some residents of California, Oregon and Washington woke up early Thursday morning to the following message: Early implementation of earthquake early warning tests using mobile phone app According to the U.S. Geological Survey, time zone confusion is to blame.
This alert was sent to users of the MyShake app, which sends alerts before an earthquake.
The annual alert test was scheduled to take place at 10:19 a.m. as part of the Great California Shakeout earthquake drill, but some users took the alert test at 3:19 a.m. .
“We acknowledge that no one wants to receive a test message this quickly, and we are working with our #ShakeAlert technology partners to figure out what happened,” the USGS said on X/Twitter.
“There may have been confusion between the time zones set on the test alert system. We will share an update once @MyShakeApp issues a statement. We and our technology partners are learning and improving the #ShakeAlert system. We appreciate your patience as we continue to operate,” another USGS post reads.
The MyShake app was created by the University of California, Berkeley Seismology Institute and uses information from the USGS to alert users in advance of an earthquake so they can evacuate or slow down their vehicles and machinery.
On Wednesday, Californians received a real earthquake warning about 40 miles from Sacramento.
The alert was sent through the MyShake app, using wireless emergency alerts developed to alert residents across the country to serious emergencies, as well as to mobile phones that do not have the MyShake app installed. Ta.
