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Read More About: Technology • Current Events

Japan Activates Earthquake Warning System

The automated system monitors networked seismographs and
purports to give several seconds warning.

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service

Monday, October 01, 2007 6:00 AM PDT

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Japan launched on Monday
morning an automated system that intends to provide several seconds warning
before shaking occurs after a major earthquake.

The system, which has been tested for more than a year, went into operation
at 9a.m. local time and is operated by the Japan
Meteorological Agency (JMA). It links together about 1,000 seismographs
throughout Japan with a fast network and computing to calculate the location and
strength of an earthquake within a few seconds of it occurring.

The seismographs measure the weak but fast moving primary waves from an
earthquake. These are followed by secondary waves, which move at about half the
speed but which are much more destructive. The system attempts to beat the
arrival of the secondary waves and provide a warning that strong shaking is
about to occur.

How much warning people have will depend on how far they are from the
earthquake.

Meisei
Electric Co. Ltd., a manufacturer of earthquake sensors, estimates that
residents in Tokyo would
have about 40 seconds warning if a long-expected earthquake occurs in the Tokai
region, about 100 kilometers from Tokyo. In Shizuoka, the
city nearest to the predicted epicenter, about 10 seconds warning would be
given.

The Tokai quake is long overdue and is expected to kill up to 10,000 people
and injure tens of thousands, according to government estimates.

From Monday the warnings will automatically flash across Japan's major TV
channels and other companies are selling commercial systems that can do things
like stop heavy factory machinery, halt trains, take elevators to the nearest
floor and cut gas supplies.

Japan is one of the most seismically active nations on earth with about
100,000 earthquakes occurring in and around the country each year.

In 1923 Tokyo was largely destroyed and up to 142,000 people were killed by a
quake that was estimated at between magnitude 7.9 and 8.4. More recently a
magnitude 7.3 quake caused widespread destruction in the western Japanese city
of Kobe and killed 6,434 people. Earlier this year a strong quake in Niigata struck about 19
kilometers from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa
nuclear plant, which is the world's largest nuclear plant by capacity, but no
serious damage was caused at the plant.

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