Newport taking part in emergency alert exercise

The city of Newport Beach is scheduled Thursday to hold a test of its emergency alert system in conjunction with the statewide Great Shakeout, simulating what would happen in a 7.1 earthquake, according to authorities.

More than 100 city employees and volunteers are expected to take part in the exercise, in addition to 30 other cities, and simulate a quake along the Newport-Inglewood fault, according to a news release from the Newport Beach Fire Department.

The AlertOC emergency notification system will send out an alert to residential phone lines about 5 p.m. No businesses are expected to be contacted. Those who wish to add a cell phone number to the emergency contact system can put in their information at the Alert OC website.

The drill is expected to run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

— Lauren Williams

Twitter: @lawilliams30