Quake monitor: This world map shows the location and intensity of seismic events. Red and yellow circles indicate events that occurred in the past two weeks.
IRIS
Earthquake alerts are still in their infancy.
The death of thousands of people following Monday's earthquake in Sichuan, China, has once again called attention to the need for technology that provides better warning of such devastating natural events. While China lacks an earthquake early-warning system, it is hardly unique. Such systems are still very much works in progress: Japan, Mexico, and Taiwan are deploying them, but most other nations, including the United States, are still in the research stages, says a leading seismologist, Haroo Kanamori.
Earthquake alert systems furnish only a few seconds of warning, but that can be enough time for people to take protective measures. And more research and investment would improve the systems' speed and the efficiency with which the warnings are distributed, Kanamori says.
The principle behind earthquake early warnings is fairly straightforward. Earthquakes begin with tremors called P-waves that have short wavelengths and generally do little damage; they may not even be felt by humans. Seconds later--the exact number of seconds depends on distance from the quake's epicenter---longer-wavelength tremors known as S-waves arrive and inflict damage as they shake buildings and landmasses. Early-warning systems consist of seismographs that detect the P-waves and send out electronic alerts. Networks of such sensors improve the accuracy of the systems.
In general, such systems are in their infancy, says Kanamori, a Caltech professor emeritus of geophysics and former director of Caltech's seismological laboratory. "It's really exploratory right now, but this is the only way at this moment to make some kind of prediction of what is going to happen in the short term," he says.
Japan has the most advanced earthquake early-warning system in the world; last October, it launched a system that delivers earthquake warnings via mass media, including television and the Internet. Japan had long used a system specifically geared to notifying and slowing down its bullet trains; the new system is intended to enable countermeasures by the general public, including clearing out elevators, taking cover under desks, or moving away from rocky walls. A few seconds' warning could also save lives on construction sites, allowing, for example, workers to grip girders or move cranes to safer positions. Taiwan and Mexico are developing similar systems; seven or eight other countries are researching them, says Kanamori.
One problem with early-warning systems is that they require many sensors distributed over a wide geographic area; the greater the number of sensors, the more precise the calculation of the quake's epicenter and magnitude, and the earlier the warning. To fill in gaps left by conventional seismic instruments, some researchers have proposed exploiting sensors inside laptop computers to allow them to serve as distributed P-wave sensors. While laptop sensors are not very sensitive, their great numbers may have value, Kanamori says. "It is a matter of engineering, how you put together the laptops. If you have a large quantity, maybe it can be helpful."
Researchers are testing a distributed network to detect early signs of damaging quakes.
Some researchers are combining geophysical data with findings from social science in an effort to save more lives during a natural disaster.
Early warning system-Made in Germany
We have developed an early earthquake warning and security device for private homes, schools, hospitals, small village warning, apartments, hotels, skyscrapers and industry market. This system can warn the people in the endangered regions on time before an earthquake comes and shut off all systems. The function ability was tested positively in extensive tests at the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/pb2/index_e.html).
The system already is in use in 10 different earthquake countries. In a school in San Salvador our system has given alarm 30 seconds before the S-wave reached the building. The EPI-centre was 140km away from the school.
We sold it to Honolulu, to Chile, Greece (City Hall), to Turkey (Consulate of Czech Republic in Istanbul, Hilton Hotel Istanbul), in Indonesia (Banda Ache), to Iran, to Afghanistan (Office of German Agro Action), to Pakistan (Hospital Kashmir), to Peru (private houses), to San Salvador (German school) and also in Germany.
Our system is an indispensable component of the modern building management in all vulnerable to seismic shock countries today. We can also connect our system in your building management system.
The product has won the idea price "W.I.N. AWARD 2006" as the best product innovation 2006 in Germany.
We work with same international organizations.
Enclosed some information about company and product:
Our sensors record the harmless P wave. About electronics the wave is analyzed and evaluated in fractions of a second. If the swelling value (the intensity at the building) should be higher than the value demanded by the scientists, the system will give alarm. Different switching processes can be started over an energy management. In this way, for instance, it is possible to
give alarm before
shut off gas and electricity supplies
shut off the water supply
activate emergency power generators
park elevators
open safety doors and gates
traffic lights in front of bridges and tunnels
control railway signal installations
run data back-up programs
Overall, the energy management system is able to control up to a maximum of 8 different electronically operated energy systems and building installations.
The sensor can over a display with 8 differently swelling values (depend for the intensity of an earthquake where at the local place the system is installed) be adjusted according to the structure of the building.
For an additional safety the system can be executed redundantly against false alarms. It is dependent how many people I will warn (single house = 1 detector and for example a 30 apartments building = 2 - 3 detectors). The sensors can be connected to a network with each other in a "Master/ Slave" up to 16 detectors relation.
The basic module consist of the earthquake device and two sirens (as a single item 1,950 $US).
For more information see our WEB page and a German movie
http://www.secty-electronics.de/news.html
or the German Embassy in Washington: http://www.germany.info/relaunch/info/publications/week/2008/080125/economy7.html
Do you need more information? Please contact me.
I looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best Regards,
Juergen Przybylak
Re: Early warning system-Made in Germany
Please provide us more detailed information and your contact address
Re: Early warning system-Made in Germany
Hello altan,
the company name is secty electronics GmbH.
Regards,
Jürgen
Natural and Man-made Disaster - Preventions and Recoveries
A great discussion of DAPR (Disaster Awareness, Preparedness, and Recovery) can be had in the last chapter of "I.T. Wars: Managing the Business-Technology Weave in the New Millennium." The author exposes prevention measures in guarding against errors and large-scale man-made harm, such as terror attack, as well as exposing the best awarenesses, readiness postures and responses to natural (unpreventable) disasters. He uses 9/11 and Katrina for his discussions. Highly recommended.
Sorry, I'm a bit late to the party, I just found this article from a link on Wikipedia. As one of the previous responders from Germany pointed out this article fails to mention that there are commercial solutions deployed in several countries. The one I'm familiar with is the Quakeguard system from Seismic Warning Systems. This has a 10 year track record with a large number of installations in California. The system has a sophisticated solution to avoid false positives which is important otherwise people will ignore the warning.
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
This document is part of the “How-To Guide for Most Common Measurements” centralized resource portal. This tutorial provides a detailed guide for measurement and device considerations to take temperature measurements using thermocouples. Get an introduction to thermocouples, which are inexpensive sensing devices widely used with PC-based data acquisition systems. Also review some specific thermocouple examples and learn how thermocouples work and ways to integrate them into a data acquisition measurement system.
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tfrijnts
6 Comments
other warnings
I read (in a Dutch quality news paper) that Tibetan farmers knew a natural disaster was about to happen seven days before the quake, because of a sudden, massive exodus of toads. The paper also claims warmings of several employees of the Chinese seismological bureau where ignored by authorities. So it seems like early warnings are possible? (be it, with some uncertainty)
Reply
johnalphonse
78 Comments
Re: other warnings
Hooray for the toads! What a lesson they have for us if only we listen. Nature provides all we need to know; man wants to complicate it, label it, make it, and put a name, reputation and price tag on it...
And look how we treat our toads! We have polluted our own good friends' livelihood.
How did China get the Olympics anyway? What else are they NOT prepared for? Remember that baseball game last year interrupted by a swarm of locusts? We ain't seen nothin' yet.
Reply
Martinadalkon1916
1 Comment
Re: other warnings
maybe fifteen years ago my friend , head of asian studies at ut austin went to china with many experts in seisma matters. china at that time had publicity saying, we moved two hundred thousand out of the city and the quake came some few hours later. Result of the US study was not satisfactory, in china birds and other animals were watched but did not prove certain enough to use. I was in the big earthquake in Guatemala in 1976. I happened to be awake at 3 a m and it began like any small one but then shot up like an atomic bomb. my dog would go to the door to be let out each time before one of the after shocks. So I could learn from an animal when there is going to be an aftershock but not the main earthquake.
Reply
axckxho
1 Comment
Re: other warnings
doesn't help very much even if with early-warning system; that part is unfit for nearly 10 Mio population settlement with poor infrastructure;the Chineses gov't has been working hard to raise living standards of the central and western parts of China and making some progress;
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