Earthquake warning system for NW

El and Bill

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Giving an earthquake warning is difficult. The Earth does not give reliable pre-signals prior to a quake - many techniques have been (and are) researched but nothing 100% reliable until now.

I served for years on a committee of geologists attempting to determine reliability of warning and morality of signalling when there us anything less than 100% certainty on the prediction. Panic is a hazard and a prediction that fails can be fatal and costly - and then ignored next time. So we recommended NO prediction by the professionals until there is a higher degree of certainty.

Now there is a prediction with certainty, and it can save lives and warn of impending tsunami that might be in time to get you off the water and away from shore. It is not perfected yet, but looks like it will be shortly so those living in the Pacific NW should be aware and follow progress from the Univ. of WA.

Here's how it works - major quake occurs (offshore, or in no. CA, but at a distance from you. It has HAPPENED -no uncertainty - instantly a warning system sends messages




http://www.washington.edu/news/articles ... -northwest
 
Continued ...

At the speed of light. You receive the warning on your cell phone and all emergency services are alerted - sirens warn. You take cover under a sturdy piece of furniture - or get away from outside walls that may collapse - trains stop - reactors are shut down and safeguarded - you get off that ladder - zip your boat ashore and scramble up a hill - get off that beach and up hill ... whatever -- and lives are saved.
 
Bill this is interesting and good news but I do have one question - why did this take so long? The $2M cost isn't that much and we've had the ability to rapidly communicate such information for a long time. It just seems to me that the cost benefit ratio for this kind of system is so high that it should have been done 5-10 years ago.
 
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