Oregon Office of Emergency Management – 03/18/21 10:06 AM
March 18, 2021 – ShakeAlert®, an earthquake detection tool operated by the U.S. Geological Survey, is now live in Oregon. The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is presenting a free public webinar featuring a panel of experts discussing what ShakeAlert is, how it works, why it is important, how to enable it, and what to do when an alert is received.
The public webinar will take place on Zoom at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23.
Preregistration is requested at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUld-uprj4tGNDKP1G2JESPISQP2HKkQtMu. Once preregistered, instructions will be sent for logging in to the webinar.
The webinar will also be recorded and posted on the OEM website within a few days of the event.
ShakeAlert uses science and technology to detect significant earthquakes quickly and sends a real time alert to people via their cell phone before shaking arrives at their location. These important alerts come automatically on most cell phones, making a distinctive sound and displaying a text message that reads, “Earthquake detected! Drop, cover, hold on. Protect yourself.” This message is also available in Spanish for phones set to receive alerts in that language. Some mobile phones with text-to-voice capability may read out the message text.
No sign up is required to receive ShakeAlert notifications, and the only action needed is to enable emergency alerts through a cell phone’s settings. For instructions on where to find these settings, visit ORShakeAlert.us.
ShakeAlert does not predict when or where an earthquake will occur or how long it will last. It detects earthquakes that have already begun, offering seconds of advance warning that allow people and systems to take actions to protect life and property from destructive shaking. The system can also be used to trigger automated actions such as closing a gas valve or slowing a train, actions that can prevent infrastructure failures in the aftermath of an earthquake.
Learn more at ORShakeAlert.us.
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