Seismic early warningEarthquake early-warning system to be deployed in Washington, Oregon
California has been testing ShakeAlert, an earthquake early-warning system. Emergency officials and first responders in Washington and Oregon have been working with their counterparts in California to design a similar system specifically for the Pacific Northwest. The project, estimated to cost roughly $16 million a year, has received $6 million from a private foundation, $5 million from Congress for the coming year, and the White House’s new budget calls for another $5 million.
Last November, the Homeland Security News Wire reported that California has been testing ShakeAlert, an earthquake early-warning system, with a few private firms, researchers, and public infrastructures like the Bay Area Rapid Transit system.
Emergency officials and first responders in Washington and Oregon have also been working with their counterparts in California to design a similar system specifically for the Pacific Northwest. John Vidale, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at the University of Washington, will meet with local business leaders and government agencies next week to arrange the first public test of the Northwest system.
“Up until now, we’ve been running it and watching the results in-house only,” said Vidale.
Companies, including Boeing, Alaska Airlines, and Intel will explore how to benefit from the early warning alerts. Depending on their distance from the epicenter, California’s ShakeAlert can provide residents a few seconds notice before an earthquake strikes. Those seconds have proven to save lives in countries where early warning systems are common. In Japan, residents receive earthquake alerts via cellphone, high speed trains are programmed to slowdown and halt, and some manufacturing plants are designed to shut down when an incoming earthquake is detected. “Imagine emergency rooms knowing that they need to interrupt surgeries, or high-rise elevators being able to stop before the shaking starts,” said Barb Graff, Seattle’s emergency-management director. “I truly believe it will save lives.”
The warning system relies on a seismic network of ground motion sensors distributed throughout the Pacific Northwest to identify primary waves (P-waves) as they move through the Earth at almost twice the speed of the earthquakes’ destructive S-waves, which shake the ground.
TheSeattle Times reports that the University of Washington is collaborating with other research organizations throughout the West coast, and with the U.S. Geological Society, to expand warning coverage to the entire region. The project, estimated to cost roughly $16 million a year, has received $6 million from a private foundation, $5 million from Congress for the coming year, and the White House’s new budget calls for another $5 million. Public officials in the region are meeting with the private sector to make a business case for the early warning system, in hopes that they would also contribute.
Gary Gordon, emergency-preparedness manager for Boeing, has monitored the project since its inception and explained that Boeing will investigate what it would take to integrate the alert system to its plants so hazardous processes like overhead cranes or fuel transfers, could be automatically shut down. “I think there are too many unknowns to really say: Yes, we can definitely use this, or: No we can’t use it,” Gordon said. Participating in the pilot project should help answer those questions, he added.
Vidale predicts it will be at least two years before the Northwest warning system can be made available to the general public. He stresses that several technical bugs remain to be worked out. He has been advising test participants not to take any drastic action if the system sends out alerts. “It may not work very well at first,” he cautioned.
