Hundreds of thousands of Californians are scratching their heads after an earthquake warning app failed to provide any advance notice of the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit the state last week.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the roughly 700,000 people who have downloaded the ShakeAlertLA app were not given any warning before the quake hit on Friday — not even a few seconds. No one was killed in the earthquake, but roads and buildings were damaged — particularly in the area in and around Ridgecrest, the quake's epicenter.
"I thought the app was broken, maybe not fully functioning," resident Alyssa Feller told the Journal. "Even if it gave a five-second warning, that would have been five seconds to find shelter or protection."
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti introduced the app to the general public in January. Officials are now saying that Friday's earthquake did not reach the minimum expected damage threshold to provide a warning to its users.
"We are trying to strike a balance between the small earthquakes and the large earthquakes," Robert de Groot, coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey's ShakeAlert system, told the Journal.
The USGS is now working to lower the threshold to ensure alerts ahead of quakes such as last week's go out.
Friday's quake came one day after a magnitude 6.4 quake shook the Golden State. Hundreds of aftershocks have since occurred every day, officials have said.
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