The notification, which read “Earthquake detected nearby,” was triggered by a magnitude 5.6 earthquake near Willits, California. The alert came from ShakeAlert, the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) earthquake early warning system, which is designed to warn people before an earthquake hits.
Although ShakeAlert currently serves California, Oregon and Washington, some people in Northern Nevada also received the notification because cellphone alert boundaries don’t stop exactly at state lines.
The earthquake was initially estimated to be larger than it actually was, causing the warning area to extend farther east and include Reno, said Christie Rowe, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory.
“I would rather get an alert for an earthquake and then have a mild shaking experience, or feel nothing at all, than have them try to clip it really close and end up not getting alerts for earthquakes that might be meaningful to me,” Rowe said.
The system makes an initial estimate of an earthquake's size and location in just a few seconds. In Wednesday's event, the initial estimate overstated the quake’s magnitude, Rowe said.
Nevada is not currently part of the ShakeAlert network but that could change soon.
Rowe said she is working with the USGS on a proposal to bring ShakeAlert to Nevada. Doing so would require installing additional seismic monitoring stations across the state and securing federal funding. She expects a proposal could be ready within the next year.
Until then, Rowe said the unexpected notification serves as a reminder that earthquake preparedness remains the best way to stay safe when the ground starts shaking.
