Earthquake Early Warning System Test Planned For Next Week

OLYMPIA, WA — The Washington State Department of Emergency Management is preparing to launch a new earthquake early warning alert system. Ideally, the system will send Washingtonians earthquake warnings in advance of quakes, buying residents precious seconds to escape to safety. But before the system is launched in earnest later this spring, emergency management will be running several test alerts, starting with one late next week.

That alert will be sent out at 11 a.m. next Thursday, but only to King, Pierce, and Thurston counties - and even then only to residents of those counties who have capable smartphones and who have opted in to receive Wireless Emergency Alert test messages.

King, Pierce, and Thurston were chosen for the test because they have densely populated metros which put them at high risk for extremely damaging quakes.

Residents of those counties who have opted in will receive an alert to their phones which reads, in English and Spanish:

TEST of the Earthquake Alert System. (https://mil.wa.gov/alerts) TEST -USGS ShakeAlert
PRUEBA del sistema de alerta de terremotos. (https://mil.wa.gov/alerts) -USGS ShakeAlert

Users will be able to click the embedded link to find more information. Organizers say the message should be similar to an AMBER alert. It will not be sent out on television or over the radio.

The test has been timed to roughly coincide with the 20th anniversary of the 6.8 Nisqually earthquake, which happened on Feb. 28, 2001.

“There are a lot of people who remember the Nisqually earthquake and testing our Earthquake Early Warning system is a great way for us to get ready for the launch of the system in late May,” said Maximilian Dixon, geologic hazards supervisor for the Washington Emergency Management Division.

The ShakeAlert warning system has been in use in California since October 2019, and will be coming to Oregon in March, and then Washington by the end of May, creating one contiguous system up the West Coast.

As the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) explains, the system uses a network of sensors that detect quakes as they happen and quickly send out alerts to nearby communities, giving them time to find a safe spot or shelter-in-place before the tremors arrive.

“The rollout of public alerting for ShakeAlert in the Pacific Northwest is a major milestone in the evolution of this critical system and has the potential to provide users with life-saving warnings seconds before they experience damaging shaking in future earthquakes,” said Gavin Hayes, USGS senior science advisor for earthquake and geologic hazards.

Anyone who wants to take part in next week's test can learn how to opt-in by visiting the Emergency Management Division's website.