ShakeAlert Going Live in Washington and Along West Coast

ShakeAlert is a new earthquake notification system that measures waves that are caused by earthquakes and can send notifications to people that might be impacted by the tremor. Bill Steele of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network says the alert will generally only allow 10-20 seconds of warning.

"But it's enough to alert you that an earthquake is happening and about to effect you and give you time to get in a safer place to duck, cover and hold on."

Steele says there could some type of earthquakes that allow for up to 4-5 minutes of warning, but those will be less frequent.

The system figures all of this out by measuring p-waves which is mostly safe and faster than the more dangerous seismic wave which comes shortly after and contains the more damaging impact.

"Doing an analysis in less than two seconds and then pushing out an alert to people near where the earthquake will effect."

That p-wave always comes prior to an earthquake, and it will allow the system to send out notifications of an impending earthquake.