The US Geological Survey (USGS) reported a magnitude 4.0 earthquake near Catalina Island on Friday morning, but later determined that the earthquake never occurred.
The USGS initially reported the earthquake as high Tue at 9: 48 am, and said its epicenter was located about 18 miles south-southwest of the island community of Avalon and 44 miles south of San Pedro.
No However, there was no earthquake. About an hour after the original report, the USGS ShakeAlert system said that it had actually “detected an event other than an earthquake” that triggered the system.
USGS advisory says: “Hello everyone: ShakeAlert detected an unrelated event with an earthquake that activated our system. Fortunately, no public alerts were sent. This is a first for us because these events happen very rarely. Apologies for any confusion from our previous tweets.”
Hi everyone – #ShakeAlert detected a non-earthquake event which triggered our system. Fortunately, no public alerts were sent out. This is a bit of a first time for us because these events happen so rarely. Apologies for any confusion from our previous tweets.
— USGS ShakeAlert (@USGS_ShakeAlert) April 15, 2022
Until now, it has not been reported what event could have caused the system to register a 4.0 earthquake. ShakeAlert said they were using the experience to learn what could have caused this “fake earthquake”.
Human activities, such as explosions in mining and construction, can sometimes create seismic waves large enough to be detected by the USGS National Seismic Network.
The reported earthquake was later removed from the USGS map of recent earthquakes and Did you feel it? page, where people reported slight tremors in Long Beach, Irvine and other places.
Santa Catalina Island, one of the Channel Islands off to the California coast, it is located southwest of Los Angeles. The cities of Two Harbors and Avalon are located on the island.
What is ShakeAlert
ShakeAlert is an earthquake early warning (EEW) system that detects significant earthquakes as fast that alerts can reach many people before the tremor arrives.
ShakeAlert is not an earthquake prediction, but a ShakeAlert message indicating an earthquake has started and is imminent.
The Earthquakes represent a national challenge because more than 143 million Americans live in areas of significant seismic hazard in 39 states. Most of our nation’s earthquake risk is concentrated on the west coast of the United States.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) along with a coalition of state and university partners implemented Phase 3 of operations of the ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System for the West Coast of the United States.
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