A free Earthquake app, released by the American Red Cross last week, offers a new way to get vital information and stay in touch during rattling disasters.
The app uses real-time data from the U.S. Geological Survey to provide users with information on how to prepare for and what to do during a high-magnitude earthquake; the same kind of earthquakes that southern California is long overdue for.
“Earthquakes don’t follow a timeline; they could happen anytime,” Chief Operating Officer of the Red Cross’ Long Beach chapter Ian Whyte said. “Our goal is to help people prepare and this is a great tool to help do that.”
The app will alert users to any earthquake above a magnitude 2.9 within a 150-mile radius of any location. It can even be programmed to alert all of the user’s social networks that they are either OK or need help with one easy-access icon.
Available in both English and Spanish, the app also includes preparation steps and checklists that are accessible even without internet access; simplified local geographical impact data; dangers that follow large quakes, like tsunamis; shelter locations and a toolkit that includes alarms and flashlights.
Senior business marketing major Daniel Zimmerman said the app could be useful but only if people actually used it to prepare and didn’t wait until it was too late. Zimmerman jokingly said that he is more prepared for a zombie outburst than an earthquake.
“I mean, I keep a zombie survival kit in my car at all times,” Zimmerman said about the gag first-aid kit, which was a gift from his girlfriend. “But I don’t have an earthquake survival pack.”
This lack of preparation was echoed by most other students and even by assistant professor of geological sciences at Cal State Long Beach Nate Onderdonk.
“The thing is, on average, I don’t think Southern California citizens are really prepared for a large-scale earthquake,” Onderdonk said. “I mean, I don’t have back-up plans or even fresh water stored away, and I spend most of my day researching this stuff … I think that as long as [the app] is accurate, it could be a huge help.”
Although the Newport-Inglewood Fault runs right next to CSULB, the cause of most Californian’s earthquake worries is the 700-mile-long San Andreas Fault. On average, the fault has been found to have major quakes every 88 years, according to the Southern California Earthquake Center’s website. The last major earthquake to occur along the fault happened more than 150 years ago.
“The reality is that as hard as geologists try, we can’t tell when one will hit,” Onderdonk said. “So, we look at patterns. Statistically, we are due for a large one on the San Andreas Fault. It’s frustrating because we just can’t say when, but the tension will have to be released sometime.”
Cities built on unconsolidated soil, like Los Angeles and San Bernardino, will feel the effects of an earthquake much more violently than the surrounding mountains and hills, which have a much rockier foundation, according to hypothetical models on the Southern California Earthquake Center’s website.
“Long Beach would definitely feel it pretty strongly,” Onderdonk said. “Much of the city is built on old river deposits.”
The Red Cross also released first-aid and hurricane apps, which have more than a million downloads combined.
“The business of the Red Cross is in getting people prepared,” Long Beach Red Cross’ Public Information Manager Guillermo Sanchez said. “A disaster is going to happen; you just can’t know what kind.”