News Articles and Press Releases
Sounding the Alarm:
An early warning system would save thousands of lives when the next major earthquake hits. But will California find the money to implement it?
May 1, 2013
Azeen Ghorayshi, East Bay Express
At 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, the Pacific Plate, just off Japan's northeast coast, suddenly thrust downward, unleashing a monstrous, 9.0-magnitude earthquake that rocked the country for the next six minutes. The massive Tohoku quake and resulting tsunami are believed to have killed at least 16,000 people and injured 6,000 more. Another 2,600 people are still missing and presumed dead. The quake was the most powerful to ever strike Japan, and was the fourth-largest ever recorded. It also was the first earthquake to be heard in outer space, and was the most expensive natural disaster in human history, generating $235 billion in total damage. But there was a silver lining, if you could call it that: Tohoku was also the first time that Japanese citizens were given the precious, if limited, gift of time.
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"Seismologists don't like to make very many predictions," Allen said. "But I will make you one prediction, and that is that we will definitely build an early warning system in California. The only real question is whether it's immediately after the next big earthquake, or whether we actually manage to build it before."
Earthquake Early Warning System Passes Major Test With Quake
March 13, 2013
Doug Stevens, Los Angeles Times
In the seismic annals of California, Monday’s 4.7 earthquake was little more than a footnote. It gave Southern California a small morning jolt but caused no damage and was largely shrugged off by noon. But in one important way, the quake was highly significant because it marked an advance in California’s burgeoning earthquake early warning system.
The quake struck in the desert town of Anza, and hundreds of sensors embedded in the ground immediately sent an alert to seismologists at Caltech in Pasadena. They had 30 seconds warning before the quake was felt there. “It was right,” said Kate Hutton, a seismologist with Caltech. “I sat really still to see if I could feel it and it worked.” More...
Earthquake Warning System Makes Every Second Count
February 6, 2013
Luke Abaffy, Engineering News-Record
An early warning system that predicts an earthquake's approaching shock wave up to a minute before it strikes is ready to become operational throughout California. Further, a recently proposed bill would fund expansion of the system.
The bill, introduced by state Sen. Alex Padilla (D), would support the ShakeAlert system, developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and an international coalition of universities. It is based on Japan's primary-wave, or p-wave, detection system. More...
Warning: It's a quake
Lawmakers should put today's technology to use and pursue a statewide early alert system.February 3, 2013
LA Times Editorial
The San Andreas Fault is overdue for a powerful earthquake, geologists say, but there is no way to predict when it will strike. Yet as Japan has demonstrated, it is possible to detect the start of a quake and alert at least some potential victims moments before the most damaging shocks hit. That country's detection and warning system helped minimize the casualties from the massive quake off its coast in 2011, although the resulting tsunami claimed thousands of lives.
Last week, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, the California Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley, backed by state Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), called on the state to develop a similar system. They want to upgrade the existing California Integrated Seismic Network, a joint effort by federal, state and university geologists to monitor seismic activity along multiple fault lines, to deliver alerts to the public when a sizable quake strikes. It's an idea worth pursuing, although policymakers shouldn't minimize the challenges that remain. (Read more...)
California weighs $80 million early warning system...
Photo:The Associated PressJanuary 31, 2013
David Knowles, New York Daily News
When it comes to major earthquakes, the difference between life and death can sometimes be measured in seconds. A bill introduced in the California Senate calls on the state to build the nation’s first earthquake early warning system to give residents as much as 60 seconds to prepare themselves for the worst.
“A fully developed earthquake early warning system would provide Californians critical seconds to take cover, assist loved ones, pull to the side of the road, or exit a building. It could allow time to stop a train or power down other critical infrastructure,” Sen. Alex Padilla, the bill’s sponsor, said in a news release. “The earthquake warning would not only alert the public, it would also speed the response of police and fire personnel by quickly identifying areas hardest hit by the quake.”
What Makes California's Quake Warning System So Timely?
Andrew Alden
QUEST Northern California Blog
Earlier this week, State Senator Alex Padilla went before the cameras with a group of earthquake scientists to kick-start California into building the world's best earthquake early-warning system. Does such a thing really work? And why should we start now?
Early-warning systems are not a scientific boondoggle; they really work. First things first, though: these do not predict earthquakes. Instead, they're automatic systems that detect quakes right at the epicenter, and measure their size almost instantly.
Earthquake alert system may be coming
Photo:Reed Saxon, SF ChronicleJanuary 28, 2013
David Perlman, San Fransisco Chronicle
An early warning system that flashes imminent danger that a damaging earthquake is about to strike is ready to operate in California, seismic experts said Monday as a legislator introduced a Senate bill to develop the first $80 million system across the state.
After 10 years of research and testing, the system called ShakeAlert could warn emergency workers and the public as much as a full minute before a big quake ruptures the ground along any of the faults in the state, the experts said. More...
California's faults have synchronized bursts of movement
December 12, 2012
Geospace blog
Twenty years after the Loma Prieta earthquake, seismologists are still learning from the faults that zigzag across California. Now, new information on the movements of two of these faults suggests they are shaking in tandem.
Some of the worst earthquakes in California have occurred along the San Andreas Fault, including the disastrous 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In 1989, the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake shook Northern California, with an epicenter about 70 miles south of San Francisco.
Different sections of the 810-mile San Andreas Fault move at different rates. Some stretches, like the 150 miles between Loma Prieta and Parkfield, typically creep along. The two sides move steadily past each other, the friction creating mini-quakes that are barely felt.
Phones to be pocket seismometers
December 5, 2012
Paul Hagey, BBC
The smartphones in our pockets are about to get even smarter.
Scientists want these ubiquitous gadgets to be put to work helping them detect and investigate earthquakes.
The devices contain accelerometers and a team at the Berkeley Seismic Laboratory says the mechanisms are capable of monitoring tremors.
BART puts early earthquake warning system to use
Septempber 25, 2012
KRCR News Channel 7
BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO)--UC Berkeley seismologists will be testifying in Congress later this week, urging the government to build and pay for an early earthquake warning system which they've developed. BART, which is now using the system, just launched it a couple of months ago. It has become the first train system in the country to incorporate the early earthquake warning system.
The siren gives a minute's warning before a quake hits, enough time to protect yourself. Sound futuristic? Well, it's not. That technology is already here. Seismic scientists from UC Berkeley have successfully tested it. They've planted sensors all over the Bay Area which can detect seismic waves from an earthquake's epicenter.
Electronic alerts are sent over the internet to end users like BART. The train system has developed a software program that analyses that data, then automates a response. "We then use that software to initiate a command through our central computer that sends a command to the field that puts the trains into breaking mode and limits them to 25 miles per hour at top speed," BART Chief Engineer Carlton Allen said
Warning where the Big One will hit
December 8, 2011
University of California Research
by Wallace Ravven
UC Berkeley is partnering with two other universities, a philanthropic foundation and industry to conduct earthquake research that could lead to a warning system. People could then have time to dive for cover, and transportation and utility systems could shut down operations.
A major fault ruptures somewhere along the 70-mile-long Hayward Fault. But where? Is the break at just one point along the restless slab, or many?
Answers are crucial to predicting where the worst shock will hit and how much damage it will cause. The underground details can provide a precious five- to 30-second warning between the time a temblor is detected and when its destructive energy reaches the surface.
Quake warning system for West Coast nears reality
November 30, 2011
Contra Costa Times
by Suzanne Bohan
The devastating 1868 Hayward fault earthquake shook loose the first plausible idea for warning people of imminent ground shaking.
A Bay Area physician proposed using telegraph cables into San Francisco to transmit energy from an earthquake to ring a warning bell.
A high-tech version of that idea is finally close to reality along the West Coast.
This summer, UC Berkeley, the U.S. Geological Survey and two other universities began testing a prototype earthquake warning system. It would alert people, hospitals, transit systems and factories seconds to a minute before a major quake.
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation awards $6 million for earthquake early warning research
November 29, 2011
UC Berkeley Media Relations
by Robert Sanders
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has awarded $6 million to three West Coast universities to create a prototype earthquake early warning system for the Pacific Coast of the United States.
The grant will allow seismologists at the University of California, Berkeley; California Institute of Technology (Caltech); and University of Washington, Seattle, in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), to learn about the science of earthquakes and the best way to capture and analyze seismic data. The goal is to give schools, utilities, industries and the general public as much time as possible - most likely seconds to several minutes - before the ground begins to shake.
Seismic Concerns In San Francisco
October 29, 2011
KRCR News Channel 7
Got Quakes on the Mind?: Big One's Still Coming, Says Seismologist
October 28, 2011
Bay Nature Magazine
by Paul Hagey
You probably felt only three or four of them, but there have actually been 16 brief rumbles along the Hayward Fault in the last week in Berkeley. As little quakes tend to do in Earthquake Country, these have shaken the idea of the Big One loose from its usual obscurity and brought it to the front of everyone's minds.
And for good reason. The US Geological Survey estimates that of the seven faults most likely to generate a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake in the Bay Area, there's a 63 percent chance that at least one of them will break in the next 26 years. There's a 31 percent chance that it will happen along the Hayward Fault, the greatest chance of the seven. The fault runs for 74 miles along the western base of the East Bay Hills from San Jose to San Pablo Bay.
