Japanese Benefited From Early Alert System; Where Is US Equivalent?
Japan was struck with one of the worst earthquakes in history, but many had a head start on knowing when the shaking would start. Japan has built a huge network of sensors and communications systems to alert people to an impending quake. People had up to 30 seconds advance warning - which may not sound like a lot of time, but it’s more than enough to shut down critical systems, prepare backups, send elevators to safe positions or open doors, and give people a chance to duck and cover.
Thousands of sensors are critical to the network, and it’s shown its worth - coincidentally at a factory near the epicenter of today’s quake where prior quakes caused significant damage but the advance warning minimized damage due to fire.
The US is sorely lacking on deploying a similar system - primarily because the network of sensors hasn’t been deployed.
The cost for deploying the sensors?
$80 million.
