Alert Fatigue? Mexico City Residents Bombarded with Earthquake Warnings Gabriela Gorbea - VICE News
go to original October 3, 2015

The day, 30 years ago, that forever changed Mexico (El Daily Post)

Many residents still remember the 8.5 magnitude quake of 1985 that killed 12,843 people, according to official figures. Fear of a repeat is seen in the way phone lines can crash from people calling round to check up on relatives and friends after they feel a tremor, even when there is no obvious sign of damage.

But the activation of the capital's dramatically expanded early warning alert this week to prepare people for two barely perceptible tremors has raised questions about whether the technology is being overused, and concerns it is provoking unnecessary panic or perhaps even alert fatigue.

"The early warning system has proven to be useful and effective," Armando Cuellar Martínez, of the Mexican office in charge of the alert told VICE News. "It gives people time to prepare."

But while Cuellar complained about a "lack of education on earthquakes that needs to be taken care of," he also acknowledged that the wider dissemination of the alert in recent years calls for new parameters for deciding when it should be activated.

Read the rest at VICE News

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