Earthquake Early Warning in the Western United States: Special Considerations for Schools

Schools in the western United States are vulnerable to damaging earthquakes, leaving children and staff at risk to death, injury, and disruption. ShakeAlert—the U.S. Geological Survey-managed earthquake early warning system—has the potential to enhance school safety by providing rapid mass notification of an earthquake before shaking arrives. The extra seconds of warning can trigger automated system shutdowns and prompt people to drop, cover, and hold on. To explore how earthquake early warning can be more effectively integrated into schools, our research team conducted 118 interviews with school leaders, teachers, students, and other members of the school community in earthquake-affected school districts in Alaska and California. The interviews revealed that interviewees are enthusiastic about the potential of ShakeAlert to enhance school safety efforts. They also asked questions and provided feedback in the following six areas of concern: (1) awareness and knowledge; (2) funding and diversion of resources; (3) alert channels; (4) alerting threshold and frequency of alert delivery; (5) alert message content and drills; and (6) school infrastructure. This chapter offers recommendations to address these considerations and to help support schools in adopting this potentially life-saving technology.