U.S. Geological Survey Awards $4 million to Earthquake Early Warning System Developed at Caltech

ShakeAlert, an earthquake early warning system which Pasadena’s Caltech helped develop, is now closer to becoming a functioning network for the U.S. West Coast, thanks to a $4 million award from the U.S. Geological Survey.

The award announced last week gave the $4 million to Caltech and three other universities – UC Berkeley, University of Washington and University of Oregon. The new USGS funding will allow 20 new sensors to be added to the California Integrated Seismic Network, a source of data for ShakeAlert.

USGS also has spent around $1 million for sensors that are now part of the network.

ShakeAlert uses present-day technology to detect earthquakes when they happen so that an alert can reach some areas before strong shaking arrives there. The purpose of the EEW system is to identify and characterize an earthquake a few seconds after it begins, calculate the likely intensity of ground shaking that will result, and deliver warnings to people and infrastructure in harm’s way.

Thomas Heaton, Professor of Engineering Seismology at Caltech and Director of the Engineering Research Laboratory, said the ShakeAlert project has received $21 million in support, about 55 percent of the amount it needs to build out the whole EEW infrastructure for California and the Pacific Northwest.

“The system is designed to provide an alert that shaking is on its way and provide information about how strong the shaking will be when it gets there, so some actions can be taken based on the alert,” Heaton said in a Pasadena Star report.

The ShakeAlert website says the network has been sending seconds to minutes of warning before shaking arrives to early users. Although it does not predict earthquakes, the system could help people and policymakers prepare for temblors when they happen.

The website also says ShakeAlert can “give enough time to slow and stop trains and taxiing planes, to prevent cars from entering bridges and tunnels, to move away from dangerous machines or chemicals in work environments and to take cover under a desk, or to automatically shut down and isolate industrial systems.” Taking such actions before shaking starts can reduce damage and casualties during an earthquake.

The system can also prevent cascading failures in the aftermath of an event.

The earthquake early warning system has estimated operating and maintenance costs of $16.1 million annually. The demonstration system was written, developed and operated at three universities, including Caltech.