WEBVTT - Quick Hit: What Went Right & Wrong with the ShakeAlertLA App

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<v Speaker 1>What's going on. I'm rich damiro This is Rich on

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<v Speaker 1>Tech Quick Hits. Joining me today is Robert de Gruzzi

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<v Speaker 1>is the Shake Alert National Coordinator for the Earthquake Science

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<v Speaker 1>Center at the USGS. Robert, thanks so much for joining

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<v Speaker 1>me today.

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<v Speaker 2>Thank you.

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<v Speaker 1>So tell me what it's been like for your team

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<v Speaker 1>for the past seventy two hours, because there's been a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of seismic activity in the southern California area.

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<v Speaker 2>It's been pretty incredible. We've had this sequence of a

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<v Speaker 2>magnitude six point four and on July fourth, and magnitude

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<v Speaker 2>seven point one last night, plus many thousands of aftershocks.

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<v Speaker 2>So it's been a very interesting time for us. And

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<v Speaker 2>in my particular role, I work with the earthquake Early

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<v Speaker 2>Warning program for USGS, and so that's been another interesting

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<v Speaker 2>piece of the entire operation for us.

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<v Speaker 1>So, the early warning system. We've heard talk about this

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<v Speaker 1>in California for many years. Tell me, so the main

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<v Speaker 1>component that's different this time around is that a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of average people had this shake alert la app so

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<v Speaker 1>is that new this time?

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<v Speaker 2>The shakeload real quick early warning system is being implemented

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<v Speaker 2>in California, Oregon, and Washington, and so the USGS's role

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<v Speaker 2>in this whole process is to actually detect the ground

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<v Speaker 2>motion out in the field, to move that information to

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<v Speaker 2>a processing center and make these shake alerts the information

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<v Speaker 2>about the event available for delivery. And so the piece

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<v Speaker 2>that most people are asking about now is the City

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<v Speaker 2>of Los Angeles has recently released shakeload LA and app

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<v Speaker 2>where they deliver shake alerts to the residents of Los

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<v Speaker 2>Angeles County.

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<v Speaker 1>And so they're tapping into your system basically to deliver

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<v Speaker 1>those alerts.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right.

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<v Speaker 1>So how different are those two systems? Are you know,

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<v Speaker 1>passing along that information to them or I mean because

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<v Speaker 1>this took a while to implement, for yes, the regular volts.

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<v Speaker 2>So the USGS is the source of the shake alerts.

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<v Speaker 2>And what we do is we we we issue them

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<v Speaker 2>and everybody that is connected to us delivers them on

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<v Speaker 2>our behalf. So we we basically produced the information and

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<v Speaker 2>then we handed off to people to deliver and the

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<v Speaker 2>City of Los Angeles the shakewoad LA app is one

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<v Speaker 2>of those ways that we get the message out to people.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, so there's been some talk about a shake or

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<v Speaker 1>LA app and I've been kind of a vocal you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a vocal I've been talking about it on Twitter a

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<v Speaker 1>lot because I was surprised that I did not get

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<v Speaker 1>an alert for the first earthquake, and then for the

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<v Speaker 1>second one, I didn't get it. What happened in this

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<v Speaker 1>scenario here, So part.

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<v Speaker 2>Of the information that we make available for delivery is

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<v Speaker 2>an estimation of how much the ground is going to shake,

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<v Speaker 2>And it turns out with both earthquakes, the initial information

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<v Speaker 2>that we sent out the estimates gave the shaking level

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<v Speaker 2>in Los Angeles County it was below a certain level.

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<v Speaker 2>It was below a certain threshold where we would not

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<v Speaker 2>have passed or the Shake with LA app would not

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<v Speaker 2>have passed along that information to the residents of LA County.

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<v Speaker 2>So it's more about what the settings are for Shake

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<v Speaker 2>loord LA and when they deliver the message that we produce.

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<v Speaker 2>So we produce the messages. They just didn't deliver it,

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<v Speaker 2>and that's not at the fault of the City of

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<v Speaker 2>Los Angeles. It was an agreed upon threshold to deliver

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<v Speaker 2>those messages.

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<v Speaker 1>Mainly because if you had a lower threshold, you might

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<v Speaker 1>get these messages all time.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right. So there's that delicate balance between sending messages

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<v Speaker 2>and for us, the basic idea is to only deliver

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<v Speaker 2>messages to people who may experience potentially damaging shaking. And

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<v Speaker 2>what we mean by that is stuff starts falling off

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<v Speaker 2>shells or walls, or the shakings where people can't stand.

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<v Speaker 2>That's where we want people to really know. In many cases,

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<v Speaker 2>if you just feel an event, you'll be getting a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of those types of messages. So we want to

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<v Speaker 2>make sure that we're not over alerting people.

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<v Speaker 1>And in the city of LA for this instance, there

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't really damaging shaking. It was more of a feeling

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<v Speaker 1>of shaking, and that's the delineation.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, in the County of Los Angeles, the initial estimation

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<v Speaker 2>of shaking in Los Angeles County was below that that

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<v Speaker 2>that potentially damaging shaking level. We've been doing some modeling

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<v Speaker 2>on that ever since last night, and it's it's likely

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<v Speaker 2>that there could have been in Los Angeles County. So

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<v Speaker 2>we're looking into this and trying to figure out a

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<v Speaker 2>way to basically strike that happy balance.

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<v Speaker 1>And I saw that you guys did do an update

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<v Speaker 1>for the app overnight and you said on the app,

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<v Speaker 1>or at least on a tweet, that you lowered the

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<v Speaker 1>threshold from a I think it was a four to

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<v Speaker 1>a three or five four.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. So what's really important to really mention is that

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<v Speaker 2>the shakela la app is managed and developed by the

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<v Speaker 2>City of Los Angeles, and we're providing them a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of advice. And my understanding of what they did last

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<v Speaker 2>night is that on the shakeload la app there's a

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<v Speaker 2>feature where you can look at recent earthquakes, and what

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<v Speaker 2>they did was is they moved the recent earthquakes that

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<v Speaker 2>you see on the screen from the magnitude four two

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<v Speaker 2>magnitude three, so there would be more events shown on

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<v Speaker 2>those maps.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, And how much of a heads up should we

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<v Speaker 1>expect from the early warning system?

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<v Speaker 2>So the shakeleariers quick early warning system should be able

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<v Speaker 2>to provide people with seconds to tens of seconds of

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<v Speaker 2>warning before shaking arise at their location. And what we're

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<v Speaker 2>telling people is is that if you feel shaking, don't

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<v Speaker 2>wait for the alert drop government hold on. The opposite

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<v Speaker 2>also is important that if you get the alert, don't

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<v Speaker 2>wait for the shaking drop government hold on. So it's

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<v Speaker 2>either the shaking or the alert that will tell you

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<v Speaker 2>to take that action.

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<v Speaker 1>Are there any limitations of this system at this point?

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<v Speaker 1>Like can it get better? In the future.

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<v Speaker 2>It's absolutely getting better all the time. And I think

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<v Speaker 2>this is why working with the City of LA is

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<v Speaker 2>so critical, because there is the sort of technical infrastructure

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<v Speaker 2>part of it that the USGS is improving all the time.

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<v Speaker 2>But then there's also the delivery side. We're trying as

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<v Speaker 2>much as possible to reduce the times between when we

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<v Speaker 2>make the alert available for delivery and when that message

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<v Speaker 2>is actually you know, ends up in someone's hands in

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<v Speaker 2>they're on their phone or wherever else.

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<v Speaker 1>And what about folks outside of LA County or City

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<v Speaker 1>of Los Angeles, Like will this app work for everyone?

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<v Speaker 1>Or are there other resources that people should be aware of?

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<v Speaker 2>So the the app actually works for all residents of

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<v Speaker 2>Los Angeles County. So even though the City of LA

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<v Speaker 2>is producing the app, everyone in LA County would potentially

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<v Speaker 2>receive a shake alert. And there are other parallel, parallel

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<v Speaker 2>programs that are being put together projects for building apps,

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<v Speaker 2>but those are still in testing mode. It's really the

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<v Speaker 2>City of La app that has taken things to this

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<v Speaker 2>place where they're actually sending out alerts to people in

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<v Speaker 2>LA County.

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<v Speaker 1>Are there any other resources you recommend in general, like

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<v Speaker 1>do we follow a certain Twitter account? I know, there's

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<v Speaker 1>a bunch of earthquake apps on you know, the app stores,

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<v Speaker 1>and are those any good?

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<v Speaker 2>So most of the apps that you'll see online are

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<v Speaker 2>the apps that subscribe to the same information from the

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<v Speaker 2>USGS about events that have already happened. With distinguishes Shake

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<v Speaker 2>Alert from all the other types of programs that are

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<v Speaker 2>out there is that we are providing some time potentially

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<v Speaker 2>sometime before shaking rise at your location. So there really

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<v Speaker 2>isn't anything other than shake La that's out there that's

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<v Speaker 2>operating in this capacity in La County. Now, there are

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<v Speaker 2>a few other apps that are are being developed. There's

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<v Speaker 2>one called quick Alert, which is being developed by a

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<v Speaker 2>company called Early Warning Labs, which is based in Santa Monica,

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<v Speaker 2>but that's also in testing mode. That's really pretty much it.

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<v Speaker 2>If people want to keep updated with the Shake Alert

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<v Speaker 2>earth Quick Early Warning system, we recommend they follow our

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<v Speaker 2>Twitter feed at and the addresses at USGS underscore shake Alert.

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<v Speaker 1>Anything else that folks should know about these, I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>because it's definitely an interesting time in southern California, know

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<v Speaker 1>where you just I mean, rarely do you feel the

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<v Speaker 1>ground shaking two times in two days and three days?

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<v Speaker 2>You know, absolutely, And you know this, this is the

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<v Speaker 2>largest shaking that we felt in this region in about

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<v Speaker 2>twenty years, and so we're learning a lot from this earthquakes.

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<v Speaker 2>So there's a lot to learn about earthquakes from these events.

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<v Speaker 2>But what's also critical too, is that this is the

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<v Speaker 2>way that we're going to learn how to improve the

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<v Speaker 2>earthquake early warning system. I mean, it's one thing to

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<v Speaker 2>do stimulated earthquakes, it's one thing to do modeling, but

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<v Speaker 2>to actually have the real earthquakes, have the real events

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<v Speaker 2>and see what they do, it'll it'll give us that

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<v Speaker 2>insight we need to make an even better system so

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<v Speaker 2>people should not be alarmed the fact that things happen

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<v Speaker 2>the way they did this time. This is actually a

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<v Speaker 2>stepping stone to a much better shake with system, and.

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<v Speaker 1>We feel like the APP is going to be in

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<v Speaker 1>a better position at this point for another alert in

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<v Speaker 1>the future.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, we're actually having discussions with folks at the City

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<v Speaker 2>of Los Angeles this week to make further changes.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, Great Roberts Grout from Shake Alert, the Shake Alert

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<v Speaker 1>National coordinator for the Earthquakes Time Center at USGS. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>so much for joining me today. I know you have

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<v Speaker 1>a busy weekend. Here it's a Saturday, and I know

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<v Speaker 1>it's a holiday weekend, so very interesting timing for these earthquakes.

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<v Speaker 1>But I guess they're not on anyone's particular schedule. Huh.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right, yep, that we're here whenever they happen.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, Thanks so much for listening to the show.

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<v Speaker 1>If you found this podcast useful, be sure to subscribe.

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<v Speaker 1>Just search Rich on Tech in your favorite podcast app.

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<v Speaker 1>Immrich Chmiro. I'll talk to you real soon.