Tens of thousands of cell phones in downtown Oakland frantically buzzed Wednesday with an urgent message from the government: an earthquake had not occurred.
“TEST of the CA Earthquake Warning System. No action required. THIS IS A TEST,” the message said.
The Amber Alert-style notification sent at 11 a.m. was the first residential deployment of the state’s new sophisticated earthquake warning system. The messages were sent to phones in a 60-block zone of Oakland using the federal Wireless Emergency Alert technology.