[conspire] Alarm fatigue (was: Re: Did you guys feel the 4.2 earthquake today?)

[Steve Litt]

paulz at ieee.org said on Thu, 19 Oct 2023 03:05:20 +0000 (UTC)

> For the alert to be useful, a decision to send it needs to be made in
> a fraction of a second.  Part of the calculation of magnitude is how
> long the shaking lasts.

Every earthquake I've ever been in (probably about 10 feelable quakes
5.0 or greater) lasted no more than 40 seconds. Concerning the two that
lasted more than 20 seconds, the 5.9 Whitier Narrows quake 10/1/1987
and the "Northridge" quake (that was really in Reseda) on 1/17/1994
(any day that begins at 4:31 AM is going to be a bad day), I knew there
was in a quake quicker than I could have looked at a cell phone, and it
was shaking so hard I couldn't have run for cover: Walking is about the
limit (I was sleeping when each started).

SteveT

Steve Litt 

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