Automated alerts from the fledgling West Coast earthquake early warning system are ready to be used broadly by businesses, utilities, schools and other entities but not for mass public notification, officials said Wednesday. "We're making a large change from a production prototype in pilot mode to an open-for-business operational mode," Doug Given, earthquake early warning coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey, told a press conference at the California Institute of Technology. False alerts typically have occurred when a large quake elsewhere in the world is detected by a sensor and is mistaken for a local temblor. "Unfortunately the technology that is built into your phone to send you notifications was not designed with earthquake early warning in mind." "We can now see the end, I hope, in two or three years where the system is fully built out and funded and in operation."

Source: ABC News October 17, 2018 22:57 UTC