For several years the USGS has been collecting field reports from people via their “Did You Feel It” (DYFI) website: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/data/dyfi/. While this data has been useful, they have been concerned that those who would be most affected by a major earthquake may not be able to report them due to a wide scale power, internet and cellular system outage. They refer to this as the “donut hole” effect where a significant amount of data is missing from the epicenter of the quake.
As reported by the WinLink foundation, the USGS is now accepting DYFI reports via WinLink. Remember that WinLink work without infrastructure, so we can still submit reports even when the power, the internet and cellular service are down.
The San Diego ARES group was quick to jump on this news and create an instructional video on how to submit a report. All amateur hams with WinLink capabilities should be reporting earthquakes as they happen!
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