SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — People ducked under desks and tables in California and other earthquake-prone areas around the world for an annual drill held Thursday to practice ways to stay safe during quakes.
Up and down the U.S. West Coast, the ShakeOut drill began at 10:19 a.m. PDT with a test alert from the region’s ShakeAlert earthquake warning system that popped onto cellphone screens.
For many, it was the second alert of the day after an errant predawn message hit some phones with a voice message announcing the test. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was likely due to a mix-up in time zones set in the test alert system.
The real thing happened a day earlier, however, when a magnitude 4.2 quake struck southwest of California’s capital in the agricultural Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta region.
The tremor triggered a warning from the ShakeAlert system, which detects the start of a quake and sends warnings to areas expected to experience shaking. The quake proved to be weaker than the near-instantaneous initial estimate and no damage was reported.