False Earthquake Alarm Sends Tremors Across Twitter
This is What's Trending Today....
Earthquakes are not uncommon in southern California. Citizens there know how to react and respond if the ground starts shaking.
On Wednesday night, many of them received an email from the U.S. Geological Survey that warned of a large earthquake. The message reported a powerful, 6.8-magnitude quake. Many people also saw similar Twitter messages from the government agency that follows seismic activity around the world.
So, they expected to feel the earth shake.
But nothing happened.
It turns out Wednesday's message was sent by mistake.
So, how did this happen? Researchers from the California Institute of Technology say they had been using new information to relocate the center of a 1925 earthquake off Santa Barbara, California. That quake severely damaged buildings and killed 13 people.
The new information somehow caused an automated message to be sent out to email accounts and Twitter.
A statement from the USGS said the research "was misinterpreted by software as a current event." It said it is working to fix the issue.
The fake quake report even affected newspaper writers in California and other places. They often use alerts from the USGS to begin their reports. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times, for example, sent out a story on the quake that it had to quickly correct.
It later explained on Twitter that the newspaper has a computerized system that produces stories about earthquakes based on the USGS alerts.
But, the Times said, "The USGS alert was incorrect."
The USGS does sometimes release false alarms. But they rarely are for quakes so big or in areas with so many people.
Wednesday's false alarm listed the quake as taking place on June 29 -- the same day as the 1925 event. However, it reported the year as 2025.
Such an early prediction would truly shake up the field of seismology.
And that's What's Trending Today.
I'm Dan Friedell.
1.not uncommon 屡见不鲜
It is not uncommon for college students to live at home.
2.seismic activity 地震活动
The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.
3.false alarms 虚假警报
Now, after two false alarms in 2004 and 2006, the slowdown is at the door.
4.sent out 发送
They sent out questionnaires to 100 schools countrywide.
1.Such an early prediction would truly shake up the field of seismology.
shake up 震动；摇晃
The government wanted to reform the institutions, to shake up the country.
The jockey was shaken up when he was thrown twice from his horse yesterday.
2.It turns out Wednesday's message was sent by mistake.
by mistake 不小心地；错误地...
He opened Ingrid's letter by mistake.
The men lost their way in a sandstorm and crossed the border by mistake.
在南加州，地震并不罕见 。地震发生时当地居民知道该如何应对 。
周三晚间，当地的很多居民收到了美国地质调查局发来的电子邮件，警告会发生大地震 。该邮件中称会发生一场6.8级的地震 。很多人也看到实时追踪全球地震活动的政府机构在推特发布了类似消息 。
这一切究竟是怎么回事呢？加州理工学院的研究人员解释称，他们一直使用新的信息系统，重新处理1925年圣巴巴拉海峡地震的资料 。那次地震导致建筑物严重损坏，13人死亡 。
美国地质调查局发表声明称，这一研究“被软件错误处理成当天事件 。”该部门正在努力解决这个问题 。
地震假消息甚至连累到加州和其它地区的新闻媒体 。他们通常使用美国地质调查局的警报来撰稿报道 。周三，《洛杉矶时报》也跟着发布了地震新闻，之后不得不迅速纠正 。
有时，美国地质调查局的确会发布虚假警报 。但这种发生在人口稠密地区的大地震误报还是很少见的 。
错误警报中称地震日期为6月29日，与1925年发生的地震是同一天 。然而，地震发生的年份却是2025年 。