Is there any advance warning system for earthquakes?
Jan 26, 2010
in
Earthquake Questions
Or are earthquakes so sudden that they can’t really be predicted?
I noticed they began setting up a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in that region in 2004.
I realize that they can study the movements of tectonic plates and predict frequent earthquake locations based on fault lines, but how far in advance can people be warned?
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4 comments
Frank N on January 26, 2010 at 6:33 am
The Japanese system mentioned could give warning on the timescale of seconds. No one has yet figured out a way to get longer-term predictions. But everyone in every seismically-active area has already been warned. Earthquakes are coming. Prepare for them. Build structures to withstand them. Take the well-known precautions. Strap/brace water heaters, keep emergency supplies, teach procedures, etc. Haiti didn’t build for them. But I don’t think it was stupidity, I think it was poverty. And that’s a different subject.
Elizabeth H on January 26, 2010 at 6:33 am
In Japan there is now a working early-warning system that can detect an earthquake immediately after it takes place and inform people that the ground is about to start shaking. This system detects P-waves in the immediate aftermath of a temblor and informs people that the destructive S-waves are coming. This groundbreaking Japanese system has been widely publicized on TV and in other media since October, and many Japanese have high hopes for the system.
http://web-japan.org/trends/07_lifestyle/lif071129.html
Mark V on January 26, 2010 at 6:33 am
No. There is absolutely no warning network for any kind of prediction of earthquakes. We just don’t know enough about them yet. Truly, we aren’t even quite sure about exactly how they cause earthquakes in any real detail.
So no. There *is* a tsunami warning system, but we understand how they are created, and how they move, and we have developed a good instrumentation set and network that allows us to follow them. Also consider that they’re things that happen very quickly, especially in geologic terms. Comparatively, earthquakes are long-period things, especially between big ones (of course, on actual geologic time, it’s like they never let up, but just for sake of argument, let’s just assume).
Aubrey on April 27, 2011 at 12:16 am
There is an early warning system for earthquakes. Not just tsunamis. Japan has one and it worked. So does California. Earthquakes are caused by tectonic plates shifting. There are books on it.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2059780,00.html#ixzz1KhHsvlzb