Medford Schools Now Use Earthquake Early Warning Technology - And Yours Could Too!

Medford 549C School District is now the first school district in Oregon to use ShakeAlert earthquake early warning technology.

ShakeAlert is the earthquake early warning system for Washington, Oregon, and California. It uses a dense network of seismic stations to constantly monitor ground motion and send that data to ShakeAlert processing centers. When an earthquake begins, these processing centers can almost immediately determine its size, location, and geographic impact. Licensed partners who subscribe to the ShakeAlert Message Server use this information to trigger alerts in areas where shaking is expected. Because data travel faster than seismic waves, people can receive seconds to tens of seconds of warning before they feel shaking.

Medford 549c hired Valcom, a licensed partner of the ShakeAlert System, to integrate ShakeAlert-powered alerts into the district’s intercom systems. When the ShakeAlert System detects an earthquake nearby, pre-programmed announcements will be automatically delivered in all district schools instructing students to Drop, Cover, and Hold On. By giving more than 14,000 students and over 1,000 employees time to protect themselves, ShakeAlert could save lives and reduce injuries during a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake.

Students at Oak Grove Elementary School practice Drop, Cover, Hold On during an earthquake drill. Photo credit: Medford 549C School System.

According to Superintendent Bret Champion, installing ShakeAlert technology in all district schools was a no-brainer.

“Safety and security is one of our core values that we have invested in,” Dr. Champion said, as quoted from a Medford Mail Tribune article. “[ShakeAlert] allows us to have just a few seconds, tens of seconds, before an earthquake hits, to let us be prepared and get everyone ready…It’s not a question of if [a Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake] is going to happen, but when…We are looking for every single second that we can find.”

Superintendent Bret Champion speaks to local media about the Medford 549C School District’s use of ShakeAlert technology. Photo credit: Medford 549C School System.

Medford schools are the first in Oregon to have implemented ShakeAlert, but there are schools in other states using this technology as well. In fall 2015, Los Angeles Unified School District classrooms were the first in the country to pilot this then-emerging technology. In fall 2019, the Stanwood-Camano School District became the first school in Washington to connect to the ShakeAlert System.

The ShakeAlert system is managed by the U.S. Geological Survey, but the Oregon Hazards Lab played an integral role in both building the underlying seismic network and introducing this technology to Medford and Stanwood-Camano schools. OHAZ field technicians install and maintains most of the seismic stations in Oregon that contribute data to the ShakeAlert system.  Additionally, OHAZ employee Kelly Missett conducts outreach to potential users of ShakeAlert technology and support them in project development. This work was crucial to building the partnerships with Medford 549C School District.

Medford will hopefully serve as a role model of success for other schools across the Pacific Northwest. If your school is interested in using ShakeAlert technology, please reach out to Kelly Missett (kmissett@uoregon.edu). As Oregon’s ShakeAlert engagement coordinator, Kelly can answer questions about ShakeAlert and support schools in implementing their own alert delivery system. Schools can pay a licensed vendor of ShakeAlert technology to program their intercom systems, as Medford 549c did. Or, schools can gain free access to the ShakeAlert message server and a suite of testing and development tools and program their systems themselves. More information can be found on our ShakeAlert page. Schools can also learn more by reading the ShakeAlert Education One-Pager and Case Study.