BART got a 10 second warning before Sunday’s Napa earthquake. Why didn’t everyone else?

At 3:20 a.m. on August 24, an alarm went off at Bay Area transit provider BART’s offices: An earthquake was approaching, and the shaking would start in 10 seconds.

12 earthquake sensors are installed for BART as a part of ShakeAlert, an early warning system created by the University of California-Berkeley Seismology Laboratory, United States Geological Survey and other partners.

ShakeAlert’s 150 users knew the Napa quake was coming. So why didn’t every single resident in the Bay Area get that same warning as BART? The answer is funding. It’s been law since 2013 that California needs to establish a state-wide earthquake early warning system. But the law states that funding won’t come from California’s general fund.