The Great ShakeOut initiative began in southern California in 2008. The 2018 drill was the largest ever in California, at 10.18am, October 18. Householders, students, and workers took the time to “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” as if it were a real earthquake. Many organisations used the event to test their Everbridge alert platforms, sending critical information about safety, shelter, and evacuation to their communities.
Everbridge has a pilot project with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to develop and test a system that can deliver ShakeAlert within the standards developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for push notifications. ShakeAlert is an earthquake early warning (EEW) system that aims to detect significant earthquakes faster than current systems.
Margaret Vinci, Manager of the Office of Earthquake Programs and ShakeAlert SoCal Regional Coordinator at Caltech, said: “Everbridge is committed to developing a platform that can deliver earthquake early warning notifications within seconds.”
Imad Mouline, CTO of Everbridge said: “As part of our commitment to public safety, Everbridge is continuously looking for ways to leverage risk data in order to provide life-saving technologies as quickly and as reliably as possible. Over 50 million people reside in the combined states of California, Oregon, and Washington, and we are dedicated to providing them with the most advanced tools and functionality to ensure earthquake preparedness and notification.”
Everbridge serves residents in 54 out of California’s 58 counties, including the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, and Sacramento. Among the new tools for earthquake preparedness and recovery is the Everbridge mobile app, which sends push notifications based on smartphone location, providing alerts about evacuation areas, road conditions and emergencies that require sheltering. App downloads are available from the Apple Store for iOS devices and the Google Play Store for Android devices.
