Multnomah County has the lowest enrollment rate in Oregon's emergency notification system, with just 13% of the population signed up for OR-Alert, according to a peer-reviewed study in the journal Disaster Prevention and Management.

Of that 13%, most are internal Portland city employees rather than members of the general public, the Miami University researchers found. The effective public enrollment rate is even lower.

The gap matters because Portland sits in the path of a potential Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, known as DOGAMI, has estimated a Cascadia quake could cause $37 billion in damage to the Portland metro area.

Seismologists put the chance of a magnitude 7.1 or greater event along the zone at 37% within the next 50 years, according to DOGAMI research cited by Multnomah County.

Rural Oregon counties are far ahead. Clatsop, Curry, Douglas, and Lincoln counties all reported enrollment rates above 100%, likely because some residents signed up more than once.

Researchers attributed the difference partly to the fact that landslides and floods hit rural Oregon more frequently, giving those residents stronger motivation to opt in.

The study also flagged a technical concern: while more than half of OR-Alert messages go out as text messages, push notifications account for only 2% of alerts sent.

Researchers called that rate a "substantial barrier for time-sensitive earthquake warnings," since push notifications deliver faster than texts during a seismic event. Separate Oregon State University research published in May 2026 suggested the Cascadia zone and San Andreas fault may be seismically linked, compounding the regional risk.

Multnomah County Emergency Management Director Chris Voss led a countywide Wireless Emergency Alert test on August 14, 2025, targeting up to 1 million residents and visitors. "The best time to find out if this alert system works is before an actual emergency," Voss said ahead of that test.

Neither Multnomah County Emergency Management nor the Oregon Office of Emergency Management has publicly responded to the new study's findings.

About OR-Alert

OR-Alert launched in 2021 as Oregon's statewide portal connecting residents to local emergency alert systems across all 36 counties and tribal governments.

It coordinates with FEMA's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, which can push alerts to every cell phone in a targeted area.

Enrollment is voluntary and free. It is separate from ShakeAlert, the USGS earthquake early warning system that sends automatic Wireless Emergency Alerts to phones. ShakeAlert works without sign-up, but residents must have emergency alerts enabled in their phone settings.

How to sign up

Portland residents can enroll in OR-Alert at oralert.gov by entering their zip code or county and completing a brief Everbridge profile. For anonymous, basic alerts, text your ZIP code to 888777.

To confirm ShakeAlert is active on your phone, check that Wireless Emergency Alerts are turned on in your device's notification settings.