Napa did not activate Emergency Alert System Sunday claiming system is outdated

NAPA, Calif. (KGO) -- Emergency Alert Systems are often activated during severe weather, natural disasters, or when there is an immediate threat to public safety. But one was not used Sunday after the 6.0 earthquake hit the North Bay.

A viewer wrote ABC7 News after seeing Sunday's earthquake coverage and asked why the alert system wasn't activated.

ABC7 News reporter Elissa Harrington took that question to Napa city spokesperson Barry Martin.

Martin says the city chose to communicate with the public in other ways, using Nixle, tweets, and updating city websites with disaster information and phone numbers.

"The truth is in the modern world things move so fast... Emergency Activation Systems are kind of out of date in my opinion," Martin said. "There are many, many ways to get the word out these days. We're not living in the 50s. So, we're using all those new techniques."

Jocelyn Morse-Farmerie, a Napa resident, lives in New York part of the year. She said she relies on EAS for information during hurricanes and says Sunday the alert system could have gotten the word out.

"Being bi-coastal we're not really used to earthquakes or what to do," Morse-Farmerie said.

Martin says the city and other agencies got information out within 30 minutes of the earthquake and they're still continuing to update the people in Napa each day on recovery efforts and where they can get help.