Seismic early warningImproving West Coast earthquake early warning system

Published 5 August 2015

UC Berkeley is among four universities to receive grants last week from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to help bring the planned ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system toward a production stage. Among other tasks, the partners also will continue development of scientific algorithms rapidly to detect potentially damaging earthquakes, more thoroughly test the system, and improve its performance.

UC Berkeley is among four universities to receive grants last week from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to help bring the planned ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system toward a production stage. The system is supposed to give people a few seconds of warning to allow them to take precautions before the severe shaking waves from an earthquake arrive (see “$4 million awarded to support earthquake early warning system in Pacific Northwest,” HSNW, 3 August 2015).

UC Berkeley reports that its share is $1.2 million over two years. The other three universities that will receive a share of the $4 million in total grants are the California Institute of Technology, University of Oregon, and University of Washington.

USGS additionally has spent about $1 million to purchase new sensor equipment for the early warning system, according to a news release from the federal agency.

The agency will collaborate with the four universities to improve the ShakeAlert system across the West Coast and coordinate across regional centers in Southern California, Northern California, and the Pacific Northwest. The partners also will continue development of scientific algorithms rapidly to detect potentially damaging earthquakes, more thoroughly test the system, and improve its performance.

In addition, the partners will construct or upgrade approximately 150 seismic sensors, develop user training and education, and add additional test users to the current seventy test user organizations in sectors such as utilities and transportation, emergency management, state and city governments, and industry.

More information is available at www.shakealert.org and earthquake.usgs.gov/research/earlywarning.