MyShake App Alerts West Coast Residents Before the Earthquake Hits

The MyShake app helped thousands of Californians be prepared for a 5.1-magnitude earthquake in the Bay Area on Oct. 25, Tuesday.

According to the California Office of Emergency Management and USGS representatives, the app notified 95,000 devices up to 18 seconds just before the quake, advising users to "drop, cover, and hold on."

This proves that even a few seconds' notices might save lives in the event of a major earthquake.

Since the earthquake, the number of people downloading the app has skyrocketed. Richard Allen, the director of UC Berkeley's Seismology Lab that developed the app, said that it had topped 2 million downloads, which is predicted to increase.

The Recent Earthquake Occurred in California

According to a report by SFGate, the US Geological Survey data shows the earthquake occurred at 11:42 AM, four miles under the surface, approximately south of Mount Hamilton in the highlands about 12 miles east of downtown San Jose. The further from the epicenter a phone was, the more seconds of warning it got.

MyShake users in the earthquake's impact zone have submitted 7,199 reports. It is a total of 4,337 users reported "mild shaking," 1,326 reported "moderate shaking," and 1,371 reported none. Users are requested to report neighboring buildings and road damage.

What to Expect on the App

MyShake was developed by the Berkeley Seismology Lab and released in 2019. It gathers motion data from the phone's sensors and uses a patented neural network to decide whether it matches the model of an earthquake.

It is a free app available anywhere, although, at this time, it is only completely functional in the states of California, Oregon, and Washington.

No matter what setting a user have on their phone, like when the "Do Not Disturb" mode is on, they should still get notifications from the app if an earthquake of magnitude 3.5 or higher has been detected.

Downloading and Utilizing the App

Download the MyShake app, available on the App Store for iOS devices and the Google Play store for Android devices. Launch the program

You will be asked whether you want to give it permission to monitor your whereabouts and contact you with important alerts. To get alerts and notifications, click the "Allow" button. Even if you choose not to let MyShake monitor your location, you will continue to get critical warnings in the event of an emergency.

Pick either California, Oregon, or Washington as your home state.

Within the app, you may see information about previous earthquakes, share your own earthquake experiences with others, and study earthquake preparedness. You may access these settings by swiping horizontally across the bottom of the app's interface.

Your phone will tell you of an oncoming earthquake immediately. "Drop, cover, and hold on" will warn you to seek shelter.

Ensuring Your Phone Will Not Auto-delete the App

The "Offload Unused Apps" feature removes unused apps from your phone without your awareness to save space. This function should be turned off on your phone if you just use the app occasionally. Go to Settings on your phone to disable it.

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Written by Trisha Kae Andrada