Bill would create California quake warning system

Associated Press ^ | Sep 13, 2013 4:25 PM EDT | Alicia Chang

[Olog-hai]

California could join Japan, Mexico and other earthquake-prone countries that alert residents to the approach of powerful shaking under a bill awaiting approval from Gov. Jerry Brown. The state Legislature advanced the bill that would create a quake warning system during Thursday’s last hours of its session. …

The U.S. lags behind other nations in developing a public alert system, which provides several seconds of warning after a fault ruptures—enough time for trains to brake, utilities to shut off gas lines or people to dive under a table until the shaking stops. …

[rktman]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! Yeah, that’ll work. $8 trillion?

[svcw]

I have lived in California all of my life (except six months)
and there already is a warning system - its called shaking.

[funfan]

“Sen. Alex Padilla, the bill’s sponsor, said the warning system could be developed using federal grants, partnerships with the private sector or surcharges levied by the state.”

In other words another tax or fee.

[roadcat]

I was working in downtown San Francisco in a high-rise building, during the SF Loma-Prieta quake in 1989. At the same time, I was on the telephone speaking to my wife at home, some fifteen miles south of where I was. All of a sudden she’s screaming at the kids to get out of the house, and they’re all screaming. Told me it was an earthquake, and some seconds later I started feeling the jolts and shaking.

So I suppose a warning might help a little, but most people just look around in shock for a while before taking action. I was standing by my desk working with a contractor outside our glass-enclosed computer room. We stared at rolling equipment racks toppling over, and street light poles outside my windows swaying in five-foot arcs before we dove under desks to ride out the quake. Luckily, the telephone connection stayed alive so I knew my family was safe.

These earthquakes take time to travel from their origin (SF is some 60 miles or more from where it hit), so a warning would help train operators. Not so much ordinary folk as they wouldn’t hear a warning.

[Mastador1]

“During the 2011 Japanese disaster, millions of people received 5 to 40 seconds of warning depending on how far they were from the epicenter. The notices were sent to cellphones and broadcast over airwaves.”

Wow, that’s a lot of warning,not! Not enough time to get out from under or off an overpass or much else except to have the advance warning and time to say OH Shiiiiiiiiit! But it seems to be an excellent way to keep government leaches in pocket change.

[Jack Deth]

Hell.

I’ve got five outdoor cats and two kittens to warn me of earthquakes.

Or the odd mortar attack.

[InterceptPoint]

[lurk]

A make-work project for unions. Follow the money.

[BwanaNdege]

Here’s how to get a system for a whole lot less:

1)Put the challenge out on http://www.instructables.com/ or some other DIY geek site.

2)Have the X-Prize http://www.xprize.org/ make it a $1M challenge.

3)Run the math for Android/iPhone developers. 26 million Calif citizens @ $1.99 per download..... serious money.

4)Smart phones already have accelerometers, GPS, WiFi and 4G networking.

5)Get your post hole digger & dig a 3’ deep hole.
Drop in a 6” Sonotube & rebar, fill with concrete, placing 4 anchor bolts sticking out of the top.

6)Bolt on a weatherproof case for the smart phone with a small solar panel on top of the case to keep the phone charged.

7)When the phone feels shaking above the alarm level it calls the Alert System HQ with its Location, TimeStamp, Axis & Amplitude of shaking.

8)Alert System HQ uses the Severe Weather Alert System (or similar) to broadcast to everyone’s smart phones.

9)Trains, gas lines, etc. controllers take appropriate action.

10)Send 0.10% of the economic benefits realized by California to BwanaNdege.

:-)

DO NOT LET POLITICIANS GET ANYWHERE NEAR THIS! It can be done quicker, better and for far less money without them.

[null and void]

Yep. That is why we already have a system in place, an array of solar powered GPS/seismometers to detect a quake and phone ahead the warning. You can see one on 101 southbound out of San Jose on the right at the top of a cut near Coyote Creek, and one on the north side of Pacheco Pass rd between Bell Station and Casa De Fruta. There are dozens installed throughout California, those are just two I can think of of the top of my head.

[Crazieman]

Uh, I’m against stupid and senseless government spending as anyone, but a lot of you look REALLY stupid and ignorant scoffing at a quake warning system that has proven to be highly effective in mitigating damage and loss of life.

Seconds count. Its not a predictive system. It gets set off by the actual shaking. But modern communication is faster.

[null and void]

That’s time for a surgeon to move a scalpel away from an aorta, for a lab worker to set down the bottle of acid she was starting to pour, a pilot to abort a landing, an engineer to stop a train.

We’ll take it.

BTW, we didn’t spill a drop of any of the multitude of hazardous chemicals we were working with during the Loma Prieta quake...

[Cyman]

Otherwise known as the MissCleo Warning System

[TurboZamboni]

just monitor Pelosi’s face.

if it moves- the quake will be at least a 9.0

[Olog-hai]

I cannot see any of this “ignorant scoffing” you refer to.

And no, I would not trust California’s government to get this right any more than they would get a high-speed rail system right.

[roadcat]

Thanks for the info. I can see a use for early warning to train operators,hospitals, etc. When the 1989 quake happened, I was shocked at how woefully unprepared most people were. All power was out, electric buses were stuck in the streets blocking traffic, all signal lights out, most telephones and cellphones out, etc. We left our building, and a group of us huddled around a guy in a parking lot who had a portable TV to get information. That’s when we found out the Bay Bridge was out. Unfortunately, a lot of people were walking down the streets towards the bridge - wrong way to go. I gave rides to co-workers to get them to friend’s and relatives on our side of the bay.

People should prepare by having extra cash (credit cards useless without power), water, something to eat, and good walking shoes (when away from home). Walkie-talkies are handy, as is a radio. No way of telling if your Internet-capable devices will work, and how many people have portable digital TV’s? Something my wife carries is a window-breaking tool; I used to laugh at her about that but it could come in handy. It’s been 24 years since Loma Prieta but the Hayward fault can slip anytime, not to mention a big one in Seattle or Yellowstone.