False report of 5.9 magnitude earthquake sends phones buzzing in Nevada

An alert that Nevada had been rocked by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake early Dec 4 sent phones buzzing briefly before the US Geological Survey quickly deleted the warning from its website and said it had been sent in error.

The alert for what would have been one of the largest earthquakes in the United States this year set off a chain of automatic warnings as far away as the San Francisco Bay Area as people in Dayton, Nevada, and nearby Reno began to report that they had felt no shaking.