I've been learning more about the earthquakes here in Oregon because I'm frequently asked about earthquake and landslide insurance. There's all sorts of interesting information I'll share in due time, but today I'll share about the ShakeAlert System.

The ShakeAlert System is an amazing system designed to give advance warning for severe earthquake shaking. 

Basically, there are over 500 sensors placed throughout the West that detect the earth shaking and then, after some split-second processing, send out warning to the relevant regions. The system doesn't predict earthquakes, but the goal is to get warning out before the main shockwave arrives, giving precious seconds for people, businesses, and utilities to respond. 

It became available here in Oregon this year, and you can learn more about getting the alert system on your phone.

Though the ShakeAlert system is still being improved, it is a pretty astounding task, to take measurements from all the sensors, to process the data in seconds, and to send out an alert in seconds. I'll be interested to watch this system get better. 

To read more go to https://www.shakealert.org