State Sets Procedure for Issuing Quake Alerts

State authorities will be responsible for issuing “imminent earthquake alerts” in Southern California, but it will be up to city and county officials to decide whether to close schools, evacuate downtown areas or close businesses in response, the director of the state Office of Emergency Services said Monday.

Richard Andrews told 70 people representing 16 San Bernardino County cities that the 72-hour alerts for the Big One will be issued only if a magnitude 6 or stronger earthquake occurs directly on the southern San Andreas Fault.

Andrews explained that earthquake scientists and state officials had earlier considered issuing the imminent alerts when a magnitude 6 or larger quake occurred either on or near the San Andreas Fault.

But at a closed-door meeting of the California Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council, scientists decided to narrow the scope of such alerts, he said, because the public and local authorities might think there was a tendency to cry wolf about the earthquakes.

There has never been a decision in California to close schools or business, evacuate buildings or restrict freeway traffic based on an earthquake alert. But Andrews told the local officials that recent legislation grants the authorities immunity from lawsuits if they take that course of action. He noted, however, that the legislation has not been tested in court.

The meeting was the first of a series of earthquake briefings that the Office of Emergency Services plans for municipal officials in Southern California counties.