A REPORT IN SCIENCE magazine said two boffins at the California Institute of Technology have invented an algorithm that could give a vital few seconds of warning of impending earthquakes.

The software could sound warnings, but there's a risk that the chances of false alarms could generate more damage than smaller quakes would cause.

Allen and Hiroo Kanamori, the two professors, propose to use seismic detectors already widely spread in Southern California and linked to the Caltech computer.

The software picks up evidence of an earthquake from the faster tremors that are the precursor of other vibrations and calculates both the epicentre and magnitude.

The protoype of the software is expected to be ready later this year but the system will not be available to the public, although it could be made available to authorities for earthquake alerts.

The National Earthquake Information Center already provides email warnings of earthquakes very shortly after they happen.

Here, for example, is the report of the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey earlier this week. µ