Earthquake Alert System Failed To Work Properly

When an earthquake larger than magnitude 3 strikes the Northwest, an automated system is supposed to page University of Washington seismologists and notify emergency managers.

But that's not what happened with Friday morning's magnitude 4.5 jolt.

The Seattle Times reported that because computers were apparently overloaded with data from an expanded network of seismic instruments, the scientists were awakened instead by predawn calls from journalists.

"The system has worked flawlessly for 10 years," said Steve Malone, emeritus professor and former director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. "This time, nothing went off."

The quake didn't cause any damage, though it woke people across the region and the shaking was felt from the Olympic Peninsula to Seattle. The glitch in the UW's routine also had no serious fallout, thanks to functioning systems in other states.

An automatic warning from the U.S. Geological Survey in California arrived at Washington's Emergency Management Division headquarters within seconds of the 5:25 a.m. quake. Notification from Alaska's Tsunami Warning Center followed minutes later.

"That's the value of redundancy," said EMD spokesman Mark Clemens.

It took Malone and other UW scientists about 15 minutes to check seismic data and compute the earthquake's size and epicenter -- about 14 miles northwest of Seattle near Kingston, Kitsap County.