Earthquake alert system created for wireless devices

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) announced that earthquake early warning alerts will be offered for direct delivery to wireless devices beginning in May.

Working with a team of organizations, the USGS developed the system to send warnings straight to cellphones.

“The rollout of public alerting for ShakeAlert in the Pacific Northwest is a major milestone in the evolution of this critical system and has the potential to provide users with life-saving warnings seconds before they experience damaging shaking in future earthquakes,” said Gavin Hayes, USGS senior science advisor....