Although the WarnMe alert system drew some criticism in 2011 after many did not receive notification about a shooting at Haas School of Business, the campus’s multiple warning systems appear to have been utilized effectively during Monday’s power outage and explosion, campus officials said.

Campus police and officials used nearly all emergency systems in place to respond to the events — including WarnMe, the campus siren-and-PA system and the emergency phone line, which played a looped message with updates on the situation. Messages were also posted on the campus public affairs website, Facebook and Twitter pages, according to campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore.

UCPD sent four messages via WarnMe, said UCPD spokesperson Lt. Eric Tejada.

After the explosion near California Hall about 6:40 p.m., a message went out at 6:50 p.m. telling recipients to evacuate campus immediately due to an emergency.

“We know that there will be situations where individuals maybe might get (WarnMe messages) late or not receive them,” Gilmore said. “We will be taking a close look at what worked and what needs to be improved.”

Gilmore encouraged students who did not receive text message alerts to update their information through the BearFacts website and choose text messaging as the preferred option for receiving emergency communication.

Senior Christophe Hansen-Estruch was studying at C.V. Starr East Asian Library when the campus initially lost power.

“There was this noise like a ‘bmf,’ and then all the lights went off,” he said.

After a few minutes of confusion, a library staff member went up each floor to inform students that there had been a power outage and that there was no immediate emergency, he said.

Hansen-Estruch also said he received an email from WarnMe, but because he did not sign up for text alerts, he received the warning much later.

UCPD used the campus PA system to send broadcasts instructing individuals to leave campus after the explosion occurred. Throughout the evening, police officers entered and checked campus buildings to ensure all individuals had been evacuated, Gilmore said.

The campus’s emergency systems effectively served their purpose, said UCPD Lt. Marc DeCoulode.

Although the residence halls did not need to be evacuated Monday night, the campus will work with city officials to find suitable areas for relocation in case the need arises in the future, said Amina Assefa, manager at the campus’s Office of Emergency Management.

“We would start looking for open spaces in the city of Berkeley and start directing people,” she said. “We would also use campus transportation services if we have to move people further away.”

Contact Jessie Lau at jlau@dailycal.org.

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Samantha Rosenbaum/Staff

A UC Berkeley geologist spoke about the use of computers and smartphones to collect data on earthquakes at a lecture in Banatao Auditorium on Monday evening.

Richard Allen, director of the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory and a professor of Earth and planetary science, spoke at the 2013 Lawson Lecture on seismology about possible ways to use science and technology to mitigate the threat of an earthquake. Allen’s lecture focused on using smartphones to implement public early-warning systems and to collect data on earthquakes.

“The potential is huge in California,” Allen said. “There are over 16 million people using smartphones.”

Allen is involved in developing a prototype app called ShakeAlert, which sends out earthquake alerts via computers and smartphones up to 30 seconds before users feel a quake. But Allen is confident that smartphones can be used to measure seismic movement as well.

According to Allen, researchers can use smartphones’ built-in accelerometers and gyroscopes to detect motion during an earthquake and GPS to pinpoint location. He found that smartphones can currently detect a magnitude-5 earthquake within a distance of about 30 kilometers.

Possible applications of this technology in the seismically active Bay Area include allowing people to move to a safe zone, slowing down or stopping BART trains and initiating a response before an earthquake hits.

“There is about a two-in-three chance of a major damaging earthquake in the Bay Area over the course of the next 30 years,” Allen said.

The most dangerous areas are the San Andreas and Hayward Faults, with the latter running directly under UC Berkeley, Allen noted.

According to UC Berkeley spokesperson Bob Sanders, the campus makes use of an emergency broadcast channel, a cellular phone network and a police unit as part of the Seismic Action Plan for Facilities Enhancement and Renewal, a plan to seismically retrofit buildings on campus and develop emergency response procedures for earthquakes.

The campus initiated approximately $500 million of seismic and related improvements in buildings across campus since 1997. Buildings including Evans and Tolman Halls and smaller, unoccupied facilities, such as the Old Art Gallery, still require seismic retrofitting, according to SAFER’s website.

Amina Assefa, a manager in the Office of Emergency Management, said that she supports the idea of incorporating technology in emergency preparedness.

“There are some gaps in our preparedness and our ability to meet the immediate needs of our population after a disaster,” Assefa said. “I think the use of emerging technology and teaching people how to use it is really important on a college campus, where most students use technology.”

Contact Matt Trejo at mtrejo@dailycal.org.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Greek Theatre was part of a list of campus facilities that needed retrofitting. In fact, the Greek Theatre was retrofitted last year.

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California was one of a dozen states and countries participating in the fifth annual Great ShakeOut drill, which includes practicing “the drop, cover and hold on” response and updating emergency-preparedness plans and supplies.

“Because we have earthquakes in California, people need to know what to do to protect themselves,” said Mark Benthien, an organizer of the drill and an associate director at the Southern California Earthquake Center.

The drill comes just a day after the 23rd anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, a magnitude 6.9 quake with an epicenter near the Loma Prieta peak of the Santa Cruz mountains.

Benthien said about 14.3 million people signed up to participate worldwide, 9.4 million in California. Other ShakeOut drills were scheduled to take place at 10:18 a.m. local time in Nevada, Arizona, Alaska, Southern Italy and British Columbia, among other areas.

Selected schools in the Berkeley Unified School District, including Berkeley High School, participated in the drill, said district spokesperson Mark Coplan.

“We basically did a duck-and-cover and an evacuation drill for the entire school, which is always a bit of a project for us because we have about 3,200 students,” said Berkeley High School principal Pasquale Scuderi. “We think it went very well. We were pleased with the time in which we evacuated.”

Coplan said that although the drill was not implemented districtwide, the schools are prepared for an earthquake.

“We’ve got a pretty strong response mechanism in place, and we have an emergency operations center that is activated when there is a situation,” Coplan said.

UC Berkeley sent out messages to building managers in advance of the drill and used its siren system at 10:18 a.m. to notify the campus that the drill was taking place, said Amina Assefa, manager of the Office of Emergency Management.

Students and faculty in class did not necessarily participate because of the lack of advance notice of the drill, Assefa said.

“We didn’t want to disrupt classes, especially since we hadn’t worked with (students and faculty) ahead of time to prepare for that,” Assefa said. “We didn’t know how instructors would respond to students getting under their desk.”

Still, Assefa said future drills might be coordinated with the academic side of campus to better include students and faculty.

“Our obligation is to work with the students and faculty to be more prepared on the campus*,* and stuff like this is how we’re going to get there,” Assefa said.

The Hayward fault, which runs directly below Memorial Stadium, has the potential to produce a damaging earthquake. Scientists and engineers released a forecast in 2008 stating that the fault has a 31 percent probability of producing a magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake before 2036, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The forecast also stated that the overall probability of at least one magnitude-6.7-or-greater earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area occurring between 2007 and 2036 is 63 percent.

In the event of an earthquake, students should follow specific instructions to protect themselves.

“Get under a sturdy table or desk, and hold on until the shaking stops, and then they should exit the building and should not re-enter the building until they’re told to do so,” Assefa said.

Contact Mitchell Handler at mhandler@dailycal.org.

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