Earthquake Swarm in Arkansas Intensifies. Memphis, Tennessee could be epicenter for the next big one

www.wgntv.com...

Just saw this on another thread

reply to post by SusanFrey


Hi Susan,

My reply is to this thread, not to you specifically. I recently stumbled across this board and have been reading for a few days. I am in Bald Knob, about an hour east of Guy. I'm curious about something that I haven't seen mentioned. The cell phones here have been quirky for months now. For a bit when you called someone it might have been a different phone number that answered on the other end when you absolutely called the correct number. This happened with a few people I know. That hasn't happened in a while now. But, I know a lot of people, myself included, that have intermittent reception problems. My phone will be sitting right next to me and not ringing when I get a call. The call goes straight to my voicemail like my phone is off, no missed call notice or anything. If the caller leaves a voicemail I might get it soon after or up to 30 mins later. It is quite common to not be able to call out too. It says service not available until you try multiple times, maybe turn the phone off and on again. There were no problems like this before the past few months. Could the problems with the phones be connected to the eathquake activity?

And no offense to anyone, but being from Arkansas this bugs me - AK is Alaska, AR is Arkansas

Theressa

reply to post by Karalyne


Hi, I know you directed your question to Susan, BUT my husband and I have been having the same problems. I also have problems with my phone where I won't receive text messages for days, then get dozens at once. My husband and I have similar phones and the same service provider, but there are times when my phone will work and his won't, or vice versa. I don't know if it's related to the earth quakes or what. We are in Greenbrier so now we know it's not the area anymore at least.

reply to post by trekwebmaster


How are things feeling there? I'm on top of Horseshoe Mountain and it's been rough here all day. I tried taking a nap but between the rumbling and the thumping... well.. I'm back on here so you see how that worked.

reply to post by Karalyne


I don't have a clue if it's connected or not but I've been having the same problems with mine as well and it has disconnected in areas where I have had great signal at in the past.

www.youtube.com...

I have a second video that I got a few minutes ago have to get them downloaded and then uploaded on youtube. The next one shows much more movement.

So I wrote to the Washington State Association of Broadcasters to ask about the increase in emergency broadcasts. I was quite surprised to not only get a response in under 1.5 hrs, but from the President and CEO himself. Here is the correspondence:

I’m not aware of any new protocol relating to the timing of the tests. The Required Monthly Test Schedule for all of Washington is posted on our web site www.wsab.org/eas/eas_tab11.html and available to the public. Just click on the “click here to view the schedule” and the schedule in PDF format will come up. It lists the dates and times of the Required Monthly Tests for all of the local EAS areas in Washington by month for all of 2011. It is approved by the Washington EAS Steering Committee in late fall for the following year. The stations do have, under the FCC’s rules, a 60-minute window in which to broadcast the EAS test once it is received from the emergency management agency, so the times listed on the Schedule are the times that the agency sends the message and may differ from the exact time the station broadcasts it. Also, as I said below, the stations are also required to send a weekly test of their own and they determine the day of the week and time of day and we have no way to keep track of those tests as there are more than 220 stations throughout the state.



Mark Allen, Esq.

President & CEO

Washington State Association of Broadcasters

724 Columbia Street N. W., Suite 3190

Olympia, WA 98501

P: (360) 705-0774

F: (360) 705-0873

www.wsab.org

[email protected]



From:
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 1:06 PM
To: earthlink ems
Subject: RE:



Mr. Allen,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I live in Skagit County. Do you know if there has been new protocol put into place to conduct the test at certain times? It just seems that in the past the tests are usually done late in the evening or early morning, while this past week they have been during 'peak' times. Perhaps that has made them more noticeable. I have lived in this county for over 20 years and can not recall another time that I have ever seen more than one or two in a given week. Even my child was wondering what was going on, since there have been several interrupt her shows, which has never happened before. I have noticed at least two different counties broadcasting, I did not notice on the others.

I find it odd also, that a relative on the East side of the state noticed a marked increase this past week in broadcasts as well as friends on the East Coast and Midwest.

Thank you again,
Tara



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [email protected]
To:
Subject: RE:
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:22:36 -0800

Tara,

Thank you for your inquiry. You don’t say what county you live in, so I can only answer your question generally. Every radio station, TV station and cable system is required by the Federal Communications Commission’s Emergency Alert System rules to broadcast a Required Monthly Test every month. Here in Washington, in 8 months of the year, these tests are sent to the stations by a local county emergency management agency. March is one of those months. During three months a year, the State of Washington Emergency Management Division sends the Required Monthly Test and one month a year the National Weather Service sends the Test. Those 4 tests are done statewide simultaneously. For instance, in April the State Emergency Management Division will send the Required Monthly Test on April 20th at 9:45 a. m. in conjunction with the statewide drop, cover and hold exercise for schools throughout Washington.



Washington is divided into 14 different local emergency alert system areas and during each month that the test is originated locally, a county emergency management agency within each local EAS area is responsible for sending the Required Monthly Test to the stations. They also select the date and time for the Test in their local area. If you live near the edge of one of those areas, you might get tests from more than one county.



In addition, again according the Federal Communications Commissions’ rules, each radio station, TV station and cable system is required to test its ability to transmit and receive an EAS message once a week. Each station selects the day of the week and time of day to broadcast its Required Weekly Test. So, if you listen to more than one radio station or watch several TV channels during the course of any given week, you are also very likely to hear more than one EAS test and if you have cable TV, you will also get one from the cable company.



While the tests may be a bit annoying to some listeners and viewers, it would be terribly tragic if we didn’t vigorously test the system and it failed in time of a disaster because we had not tested it and people were killed or injured as a result.



Mark Allen, Esq.

President & CEO

Washington State Association of Broadcasters

724 Columbia Street N. W., Suite 3190

Olympia, WA 98501

P: (360) 705-0774

F: (360) 705-0873

www.wsab.org

[email protected]



From:
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 9:41 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject:



Hello there-

I am wondering if you could answer a question for me. I and many others have noticed a marked increase in the amount of emergency broadcast tests this week. I alone have seen five in the past three days, at all different times of the day, from different counties.

I know some people who live in different parts of the country and they report the same thing happening in their area.

Has there been a request that you know of to perform this unusual amount of testing? If so, do you know why?

Thank you,
Tara

So it was nice of him and all to go to the effort of such a lenghty reply and provide the link (I had already looked at it) and it all sounds very reasonable. I just can't help but wonder though. I was talking to my sister earlier to day who lives on the East side of the state and she said her and her husband had noticed the same thing and was wondering why.

SO: I could stretch my imagination and accept that for the first time in over 20 years all the counties in my area decided to do their test the same week, all at abnormal times. Okay....it could happen. BUT.....for it to also happen in Eastern Washington, New York, Pa...and numerous other locations around the country ALL in the same week? SORRY....I just don't buy that big of a coincidence.


Also, just interesting to note a couple of comments on the main web page that is linked in the above email:

In April, EAS will be part of the Earthquake preparedness drill. Since that will occur in the daytime, March has been switched to a nighttime test. The preparedness drill will occur between 9:45 and 10:00 AM (date and time are determined by the State).

The September test will run as part of the NWS tsunami communications drill for Alaska and the West Coast; and the State's Drop, Cover and Hold earthquake drill (date and time determined by NWS and State EMD). It is also "Weather Radio Awareness Month," so NWS will originate the monthly RMT.

The April, May and September tests deviate from the standard test pattern (day/night, first full week of the month) due to scheduling of the earthquake preparedness drill in April, the lahar drill in May and the tsunami drill in September

Yes...I live in area where it makes a whole heck of a lot of sense to have these types of drills, but I can't remember having this many before. You can tell by the text that it is not normally scheduled, and note that the quake one coincides with the country-wide drill. I dunno....

Originally posted by HadEnough
reply to post by Karalyne

 

Hi, I know you directed your question to Susan, BUT my husband and I have been having the same problems. I also have problems with my phone where I won't receive text messages for days, then get dozens at once. My husband and I have similar phones and the same service provider, but there are times when my phone will work and his won't, or vice versa. I don't know if it's related to the earth quakes or what. We are in Greenbrier so now we know it's not the area anymore at least.

So as an idea as to what you may be incountering, I'll post a snipet of a response I wrote to puterman yesterday regarding scalar waves:

Okay, good. I am actually relieved to learn that you aren't buying it. I personally can take from it however, one more thing to add to my list of unknowns. I mean, the whole energy burst thing makes sense to me....energy release is, after all what an earthquake is, except that the traditional means to measure it is by the what the energy causes as it travels through the ground, rather than the energy itself. Did that just make sense?

Originally posted by StealthyKat
reply to post by trekwebmaster

 

Please keep us updated, and I pray you stay safe....is it stronger than usual?

It is if you are sitting still and not washing clothes. A bit of humor; and I joked to my room-mate that I would set-off the next big quake if I washed clothes and it was very unbalanced.

Not too bad, I can handle the jigglers and rumbles, it's the sliding motion which makes me feel "sea-sick."

4:40 to 4:43 noticable jiggling.

Originally posted by Karalyne
reply to post by SusanFrey

 

And no offense to anyone, but being from Arkansas this bugs me - AK is Alaska, AR is Arkansas

Theressa

HA! Noted and corrected!!! Thank you!

OiO

reply to post by OneisOne


Hi There!

It wasn't directed to anyone in particular. I've read tons the past few days though and ran across that in a few threads

reply to post by Karalyne


I hear you on that. Now how does AK sound like AR-kan-Saw?

www.youtube.com...


Second Video. Know you know why your feeling sick theres a 3rd coming too

Strange traces at White Oak Lake about Noon today

folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu...

reply to post by berkeleygal


Those don't look good to me.

www.youtube.com...

Here is the 3rd video.

reply to post by SusanFrey


Thanks for posting those videos, Susan. One thing that might help is if, as the camera is rolling and you are getting swaying, reach out on camera and stop the thing center, so we can watch as it starts up again. Also, it is excellent you are noting UTC times in GEE, that really helps.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


I can do that for you

reply to post by SusanFrey


That much movement and camera isn't jiggling? Hmmm

reply to post by SusanFrey


lol, I was wondering what the tongues were for??

Thanks, sweetie. Glad to see you take requests.