WEBVTT - One Thing is Holding Back a Pivotal Earthquake Early Warning App 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:06.880 An app to warn you about the next earthquake. I'm 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:10.559 Rich Demiro. This is rich on Tech Daily. This app 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:14.480 is sort of the Holy Grail of notifications, a sixty 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.800 second heads up when the next big earthquake would hit. 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:20.960 This is something that's actually a reality right now. It's 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:23.720 just that it's in beta and not many people have access. 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:27.440 But I'm speaking with the founder of Early Warning Labs. 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:31.200 They created the app along with USGS, Josh Basham. Thanks 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:33.160 so much for joining me. Yeah, thanks for having me, Rich, 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:36.040 So tell me about the app. What's it called? 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:36.680 First off? 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:38.280 Yeah, app's called Quake Alert. 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.239 So quake alert and what does it do? 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:43.879 So at its core, right, just as you said, it 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.720 can give you upwards of sixty seconds of warning best 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:52.000 case scenario for an incoming earthquake. And it's not prediction, right, 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:56.400 this is early detection. So think just like you you 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:00.800 see lightning right before you hear the thunder the same concept. 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:03.319 We're detecting the sound waves or the earthquake and being 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:04.680 able to send an alert ahead of it. 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:08.000 So you're detecting sound waves, not actual shaking. How do 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:08.559 you do that? 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.880 So through our partners, right, So, the USGS and all 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:16.080 the fantastic universities that are involved, like Caltech, Berkeley, University Washington, 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:19.360 and University Warrion. They have almost nine hundred sensors on 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.119 the West coast which are listening twenty four to seven 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.679 right for these seismic waves from the earthquake. And the 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:28.640 good news is an earthquake creates two different types of 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:30.400 seismic waves, pea waves and S waves. 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:31.880 Pea waves the primary waves. 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:33.520 They travel a little bit faster than the S waves, 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:35.759 and that's good for us because we can detect those 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.960 pea waves and those pea waves don't really cause damage. 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.520 I like to kind of talk about how pets, right, 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:45.600 people talk about their pets somehow being able to detect 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:47.880 an earthquake before it starts shaking. Well, they're actually hearing 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:51.320 those pea waves really, so in its essence, that's really 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:54.640 what we're doing. Right. We have about nine hundred ish 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.680 sensors out there that are detecting these pea waves real 0:01:57.720 --> 0:01:59.920 time and sending that data at the sound of light, 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:03.840 at the speed a light rather back to the USGS, 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:05.800 and they send that data to us, right, and we're 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.560 distributing that out at the speed of light, So we're 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:09.280 out running. 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.359 The earthquake, that data comes into some sort of center 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.040 that you have, and then it's ideally pushed out to 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.680 this app that people have on their phones exactly, So 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.519 tell me where you are right now with this system? 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:21.600 Can anyone get this? 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:26.680 So the you know, Unfortunately, the mobile application, we're still 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:30.040 in the sort of the beta phase right testing it 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.760 with the USGS and a core group of testers, right, 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:41.080 university folks and city and local entities. And the hopes 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:43.080 are that this you know, this can be released hopefully 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:44.799 towards the end of the year. That's what we're pushing 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:45.440 really hard for. 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:47.840 So right now it's an app that certain people have 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:51.440 access to, obviously a beta version, but eventually this would 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:53.160 be something in the app store that I would literally 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.480 just download and now I have a heads up. 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:00.280 Free to everybody in California. Absolutely, that's goal. 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:02.400 So if it's free, how is this funded? 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:03.799 Right? Great question? 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.000 So Early Warning Labs really has two different types of offerings. 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:09.480 One is our consumer solution, and myself, coming from a 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:13.400 background of emergency management, I saw the value of being 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:15.680 able to protect these folks. Right. We can prevent nearly 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:17.320 half the death and half the injury if we can 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:19.680 just get the alert to people. So I've always wanted 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:21.840 that to be free, right. So that's the half of 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.400 the business. The other half is our commercial integration, especially 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:26.280 automate response for big entities. 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:27.560 So like La Metro. 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.839 We've worked for the last two years with them where 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.200 we will actually play the alert in their operations center 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:35.720 and we will trigger the slowdown of all one hundred 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:36.760 trains in LA and we're. 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:37.840 Rolling out at the leading hospitals. 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:40.920 Here. We have a bunch of high rise commercial buildings 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:43.839 and condo buildings where we take the elevators closest floor 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:45.800 and open the doors. Some say in the next big 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.720 earthquake that twenty thousand people are going to be stuck 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.600 in elevators. Wow, And if a building implements our solution, 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.480 that problem solved. Nobody's stuck in that alert. 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:56.960 They have that sixty seconds. You don't step in exactly, 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:57.360 all right. 0:03:57.400 --> 0:03:59.400 Tell me how the alert works, what does the alert contain, 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:01.720 and can you you can play me a little sample. 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:03.600 Here's a test. 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.200 Earthquake extreme shaking. 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:10.680 So when alert comes in, you heard the audio, we 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:12.360 say how bad the shaking is going to be. And 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.120 also the user can see how much time they have, 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:17.640 so it literally counts down to zero. And we've had 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:20.480 a couple big earthquakes here in LA in the last 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.080 couple of months, and you can actually sit and watch 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:24.719 it count to zero, and as soon as it hits zero, 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:26.960 within a second or two, it starts shaking and it's 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:29.559 it's it's pretty crazy to see it, see it actually 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:30.039 working well. 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:30.760 Unbelievable. 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.760 Yeah, and what do you do in that time? What 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:35.200 do you do when you have a heads up for 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:35.840 an earthquake? 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:39.480 Most important thing, you know, if you're inside a building 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.919 or an office, or your house or condo, whatever, you 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.240 need to drop cover and hold on. That is just 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:46.800 the best thing that you can do. You need to 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:50.200 find a sturdy piece of furniture, get friends, family, kids, 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:52.760 whatever with you, and you get under that furniture and 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:54.800 you hold on until the shaking stops. 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:56.080 The most important thing you can do. 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:57.800 There's certain things you should do if you're outside right 0:04:57.839 --> 0:04:59.960 moved to a clear area away from building's power line 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.160 and things like that that can fall on you. If 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:03.599 you're in a moving car, you want to pull over 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.479 and you want to stop free of hazards, free of debris. 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.600 You know, you don't want to stop underneath an old overpass, right, 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:10.520 probably not a good idea. 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:12.040 You want to stop in an opening. 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:15.720 In a safe spot, so I always that's really I mean, 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:17.800 I've heard the thing where you get underneath a desk 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.200 or a table or something, but I would imagine in 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:21.760 my mind it was always safer to be out in 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:22.599 the open somewhere. 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:24.560 So don't try to run out of your building. 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:28.400 Yes, yes, in every big earthquake, people get killed all 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:31.840 the time by falling debris. That's probably the worst thing 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.159 you can do, you know. And there's an asterisk to 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.719 that though too. There's certain buildings that just that aren't safe. 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:40.440 I can possibly collapse, and we're really worried about schools 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:42.680 that are out there. And doctor Lucy Jones is doing 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.479 a really good job back which she was collaborating with 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:47.720 the City of la and now with their foundation to 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.200 work and identify those buildings right that are the biggest 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:54.159 hazard to try to get them fixed before the big 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:56.960 earthquake happens. Because there's no good answer, right, if you're 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:58.479 in a building that's going to collapse, you know, do 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:00.640 you run outside? Do you stay inside to get underneath 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.480 the sturdy piece of furniture where we can first responders, 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:05.960 we can actually come and find you in a survivable space. 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:09.719 It's tricky, but most modern buildings, the best thing you 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:10.920 can do is drop cover and hold on. 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:13.560 So what I'm hearing is that you have the technology 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.680 in place, You've got the app up and running. 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:16.440 It's working. 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.520 It worked in the past, couple of earthquakes here, So 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:22.000 why doesn't everyone have access to this today? 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:23.040 Good question. 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:29.360 So the USGS, KLOS and the university partners are working 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:33.719 really hard to finish this public education piece. That's the 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:35.960 first hurdle, right, we need to make sure people understand 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.920 the challenges of earthquake early warning, the benefits and limitations 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.440 very important, and most importantly, what to do when they 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:46.120 get an earthquake early warning. The second piece is there 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:47.560 are some technical limitations. 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:51.640 Right. We can't be doing like Amber alert type warning. 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:53.359 It's too slow. Texts is too slow. 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:57.200 So we have to use the push notification service, so 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:59.320 through an app, right, a push notification that pops up 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.839 on your screen THEIRS. Unfortunately it's fast enough now, but 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.000 once we get to hundreds of thousands of people, it 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:09.920 starts to slow down, right, And that isn't a published delay, 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.520 it's just not publicly available by Apple and the Android folks. 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:17.720 So we have to really methodically kind of roll this 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:20.000 out towards the end of the year, bring on as 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:21.200 many people as we can. 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:23.440 And do some performance testing to see where it slows down. 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:27.360 Then work with the carriers and work with Apple and 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:29.560 the other handset folks to figure out how we can 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:30.000 fix that. 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.760 So a company like Uber that's sending out a lot 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:36.239 of notifications, are they not all at once? Like nobody 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:39.040 has done a half a million, a million, three million, 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:40.120 five million at once? 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:41.200 Is that what the problem is? 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:41.920 Exactly? 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:44.200 So you don't really know. If it gets to the 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:45.880 phone late, it's worthless. 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:47.880 Yep, exactly, it's worthless. You know. 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:49.520 The last thing we want to do is have someone 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.440 get the push notification after the shaking stopped, right, because 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:56.640 then they're going to start losing losing trust right in 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:01.120 the earthquake early warning system. So through ultiple different channels, right, 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:06.000 we're we're focusing now on playing these alerts and commercial 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.840 buildings right over the fire alarm system, the voice evacuation system. 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.560 Any building over ten stories has to have that in 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.480 Los Angeles for that matter, So we can play these 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.120 alerts inside those buildings and we can actually guarantee delivery, right, 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:19.720 We can guarantee that they're going to get it within 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.040 just a few seconds and before the shaking starts. 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.000 Because you've got the infrastructure in place that you built 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.000 to do that. But these are consumer devices, so a 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.040 lot of people listening to this are immediately going to 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.200 run into their app store or Google Play and search 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.440 for earthquake warning. Ye tell me about the apps that 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.360 they will find. Are those legit? Do those work? 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:39.000 Are they? 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:41.160 I haven't searched for that, but I assume they're in there. 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:43.480 So what are those doing? And should you stay away 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:43.880 from those? 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:48.520 So Quick Alert it's Quick Alert Space II to little eyes. 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:51.240 We made it a little bit harder to find because 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:53.800 you know, we can't activate the early warning for everybody, 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:55.760 but they can actually download it. They can enter their 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:57.160 email and they I should be on our wait list 0:08:57.240 --> 0:08:59.360 so they can get on a list of early access. 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:02.000 Then we're able to bring on tens of thousands or 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:04.600 hundreds of thousands more users. They'll be the first ones 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:05.440 to get that invitation. 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:06.199 So you can do that. 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:08.959 There's also lots of other great, you know, earthquake apps 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:11.520 out there, but it's just a's after the fact, it's 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.160 not before the shaking, so our app is the only 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.079 one that actually provides that. And then we were able 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:18.800 to do that through our partnership with the USGS. 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:23.480 How excited and are you for this technology to be 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:25.160 in the hands of everyday people? 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:27.920 Oh? I'm pumped them. This is my passion. 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:32.000 For over seven years, I was a volunteer instructor for 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:35.720 FEMA in the Citizen Courts, teaching a community Emergency Response 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:39.480 training curriculum. And you know, one of the slides that 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:41.839 I taught was where do we look for bodies in 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:44.200 an earthquake? Right? What's the best thing you can do 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.880 to survive in an earthquake? And this was always after 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.080 the shakings happened, so people really can't do anything, you know, 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.640 they're stuck in a dangerous spot. Knowing that now we 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.439 can get an early warning, it's tremendous because we can 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.640 get people in a safe spot which can prevent them 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.120 from you know, nearly half the injuries in a big earthquake, 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.400 and that's huge, that's huge for first responders. That's half 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:08.480 the work for first responders, that's half the hospitals, that 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:11.800 half the resources needed at hospitals. 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:13.280 Half of the nine one one calls. 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:16.319 Right, that's gonna make response and recovery so much better. 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:19.240 So I'm I couldn't be more any more excited about 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:19.760 this than I am. 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:21.559 It's it's awesome, all right. 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.120 Josh, thanks so much for joining me. Josh Basham from 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:26.959 Early Warning Labs. Tell people the website to go. 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.600 To, Yeah, early Warning Labs dot com, and then they 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.960 can click on the top for the mobile app and 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:34.439 they can sign up there too. 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:37.280 Okay, thanks for joining me, and as always, thanks for 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:39.360 listening to the podcast. You can find links to everything 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:41.120 I talk about here on my website. 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.400 Rich on tech dot tv, I'm Rich Niro. I'll talk 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:45.160 to you real soon.